Secret Inside Me
by Turmanarmo
Summary: "Fine, if you insist I will tell them, but when they reject me and I lose my friends you all know whose fault it was." Naruto must divulge his biggest secret, but how will his friends take this knowledge and will things ever be the same.
1. The Conversation

**Original: 4/11/14 rewrite: 4/14**

**Turmanarmo: This story is set shortly after the events of the first meeting with Sasuke in Shippuden so that gives you a general idea of what Naruto has been through up to this point. **

**Naruto: But I was busy for most of that Training to learn the Rasenshuriken, and then I fought Hidan and Kakuzu, and then I was in the Hospital, and then we went after Itachi, and then we were preparing for Pain, and then …**

**Turmanarmo: OKAY I GET IT, you were crazy busy for a really long time. However for the purpose of this story it is an AU where you are given a break shortly before learning Rasenshuriken.**

**Naruto: Okay now I just need to find out what sort of a story you are writing about me Dattebayo!**

**Turmanarmo: Don't worry Naruto, it's not like I would put you in some sort of a painful or awkward situation just for my amusement, and besides get on with the disclaimer already.**

**Naruto: Fine, Turmanarmo does not own me or the Manga/Anime that Shares my name which is great because otherwise my life would probably be ruined 'tebayo.**

In a slightly rundown apartment in Konoha there was a Young male with wild blond hair and shining blue eyes contemplating what to do. He had nothing official to do today but unlike a certain lazy friend of his he was not very happy about his time off. You see this teen's name was Uzumaki Naruto and he had never been one for lazing around when he could be training to achieve his goals, which in no particular order were to save his friend, get the girl, and become Hokage 'tebayo!

Oddly enough though, the lack of things to do was not what had him down today, rather his mind was focused on the conversation he had earlier today with three of his precious people.

-Flashback no Jutsu-

"Good morning Naruto," Tsunade said, "I brought you here for two reasons, one was to tell you that you and your friends have all been given the week off-"

Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing and promptly yelled, "WHAT I can't take a day off Bachan, I need to keep training to catch up with Sasuke-teme and to be able to protect myself when Akatsuki comes after me like they did Gaara Dattebayo." He suddenly had to dodge an inkwell chucked at him by an irate Tsunade.

With an eyebrow twitching prominently Tsunade shouted back, "Listen here Gaki, you need to take a day off, you can't train all the time or you will just run yourself into the ground and besides, that is not the main reason why I called you here, we also need to talk to you about something important, not argue about your bullheaded work ethic."

Naruto visibly deflated and looked back up to question what was so important that it required these people to tell him. "Bachan, what is so important that you need to have both Kakashi-sensei and Ero-Sennin here to talk about, is something wrong, do I have to leave the village again, or did one of my friends get hurt, or am I sick, or ... " he paused for a second when he noticed their faces. Kakashi-sensei seemed faintly amused based on his eye smile™ and Ero-sennin looked smug while Tsunade-Bachan had an ever growing tick mark on her forehead, so he decided to stop talking and gave them a questioning look while asking, "what?"

Kakashi was the first to react saying, "Sorry Naruto, before you came in Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama made a wager over how you would react to us needing to talk with you, and well, you can guess who won that wager. Anyways, what we had to talk to you about is in regards to your status as the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki."

Naruto froze, "What about it?"

"Well," Jiraiya picked up, "we were wondering if you have told your friends yet, with Akatsuki coming after you like they are it is only a matter of time before they start asking questions about why they are after you. Honestly we wouldn't be surprised if one or two of the more observant ones haven't already."

"WHAT, why would I tell them about Kyuubi, I don't want to lose my friends, and anyways they can't be told, Jiji told me that he made a law that made it illegal to tell anyone about it." At this Naruto crossed his arms and tried to look smug as he continued, "If they want to know why Akatsuki is coming after me you can just tell them it's a village secret or make something up, I don't care you can't tell them." At this point Naruto was struggling to keep acting like he was in control instead of pleading with the adults in front of him to not to do what he was sure would ruin his life.

Tsunade sighed and had an understanding look in her eye, "Naruto, I understand your hesitation, but that law never applied to you telling them yourself and if I wanted to I could remove the law anyways since I am the Hokage. Besides Kakashi tells us that you have already told Sakura during the mission to save Gaara and like I said some of your friends like Shikamaru are smart enough that they would take very little prodding to start questioning it."

Tsunade shook her head as she continued, "Plus if you must know Sakura already knew about your status before you told her. During your time away she became suspicious about why the Akatsuki was after you and why you left to avoid them. She came to me and informed me that she had done some investigating on her own and had determined there was some big secret about you given that no one would tell her why you were being hunted and as far as she knew you didn't have any Kekkei Genkai that would make you a target."

Tsunade looked apologetic as she explained, "I normally would have told her to talk to you about it but since you were gone and were not due back for quite some time yet I decided to tell her and despite her initial shock, in the end she was fine with it, so why do you think your other friends will be any different."

Naruto looked subdued as he tried to maintain some control by saying, "Sakura-chan is different."

Kakashi cut him off to point out, "How is she different Naruto, sure she is your teammate but the rest of your friends have known you for quite some time as well and several of them are just as inquisitive as she is. And anyways if they stop liking you because of this, which we are sure they will not, then they weren't …"

Naruto glared at his sensei with slited but thankfully still blue eyes as he hissed, "Don't finish that sentence Kakashi-sensei, don't try and tell me that even one of my friends aren't worth having. I can't go back to that dark place of having no friends, I just can't do it. I don't see why this is so important anyways. I mean they have gone this long without ever being told, why can't it stay that way. Why don't you understand how important they are to me?"

Ero-sennin laughed hollowly as he said, "Oh we can see that brat, but we also want you to understand how a friendship with this big of a secret hidden inside it will only cause your bond to stagnate. If you want to continue your friendship's growth you would be wise to be honest with them."

Kakashi tried one last time to reach his student by adding, "In addition to all of this Naruto those of us who know the real you realize how much you cherish your friends, well we also think that it is time that you let them see you for you as well, don't show them the masks. Be honest with them and they will realize as well that regardless of anything else you are Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto huffed as he was dealing with a storm of emotions, sure they had good points, but they were missing the big point, if even one of his friends abandoned him over this he would be devastated. As his emotions rose higher two took center stage and Naruto decided to latch onto anger at this moment instead of despair as he shouted, "Fine, if you insist I will tell them, but when they reject me and I lose my friends you all know whose fault it was." And with that said Naruto proceeded to slam the door as he marched home.

-Back in the current time-

After settling down a bit Naruto began to contemplate how he was going to tell his friends and how he was going to survive once he lost so many of his precious people. Part of his mind acknowledged that maybe they were right and his friends would accept him. After all, Gaara was doing fine now and his whole village had always known what he contained. However the part of his mind that was wining was pointing out that despite the fact that he hadn't ever hurt anyone like Gaara used to, he was still hated and shunned by the villagers as a child and only a few of them had changed their mind about him after all these years so why would his friends be any different. Surely they would all hate him too.

However, in the end he would have to get over it, he had told them that he would inform his friends and he never goes back on his word, so despite its inevitable outcome he would do as he promised and tell his friends.

He just hoped at least one or two of them would be able to see him as more than a demon afterwards.

**There we go, that ends the first part of this story. I love these stories where Naruto tells his friends about his burden but there are not a terribly large number of them and even less of them are good so hopefully this story does not fall into the bad category, but if it does oh well I guess.**

**Well the rewrite largely focused around a grammar check and hopefully there are far less of those issues now. The main area I extended was the flashback and I only added a few more lines to hopefully make the explanations and rebuttals make a bit more sense, you will have to tell me how it turned out in a review. Story is 1475 words long, so about 300 words longer than it originally was but I couldn't really see where else to extend it so it and the second chapter will probably just stay short.**


	2. Breakdown

**Turmanarmo: Okay here is my promised second chapter.**

**Sai: That's all you're going to say about it, I can't believe Dickless believed you when you said you weren't putting him in any awkward situations though.**

**Turmanarmo: No, I'm not trying to spoil the story or anything, and if I had told him what he was in for he might have freaked out, you know how he gets. Thanks by the way guys for reviewing, having never done this before I was surprised how anxious I was until I got my first review and how happy I was that one even contained some constructive criticism. (Happy dance)**

**Sai: I guess you really are pitiful.**

**Turmanarmo: Ouch Sai, that really hurts. Anyways, why are you here, I distinctly remember calling for Kakashi to come help me with the disclaimer.**

**Sai: Oh, that might explain why Kakashi suddenly appeared in front of me and told me I had an important mission to do and handed me the map to this place. So I guess I will get on with the disclaimer. Ahem. This baka doesn't own dickless or the manga/anime about him. Because of this he may be even less of a man than he usually is, so if you want to support my friend try supporting the official release and stop wasting your time with this story. (Creepy smile)**

Naruto looked across the room into the pair of eyes staring back at him uncertainly. "Thanks for coming, I'm sorry about not telling you what this was about but I have something I need to talk to you about. Tsunade no Bachan feels I need to tell all of my friends something so I am going to do just that."

Naruto looked away from the piercing eyes nervously, "I know you must be wondering what could be so important that Bachan would get involved but trust me, and once I am done you will know why. I suppose I should start at the beginning, you know about the Kyuubi attack on our village that took place 15 years ago right? Good, well what you don't know is that bijuu cannot be killed. Since they are made of pure chakra even if they were destroyed they would eventually reform so a long time ago the villages came up with another way of dealing with the bijuu, they would seal them inside something else."

"Unfortunately to properly contain them the container they are sealed into has to be a living being and the best option is a person. Unfortunately it is also best if the host is fairly young and so many times the host chosen is only an infant."

Naruto Scratched his head nervously, "The host chosen for the Kyuubi was actually born on that day and the Yondaime sacrificed his life to perform a sealing technique to seal the Kyuubi away in this infant. And before you ask, the reason why I am the one telling you guys this is because I was that child born on the tenth of October."

An awkward silence developed in the room and Naruto fidgeted restlessly before blurting, "That is why the Akatsuki is after me, they want to extract the Kyuubi from within me like they did to Gaara since he is, or was I guess, the Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi."

Again silence fell until Naruto sighed and said, "If you don't want to be friends anymore I understand, most people who know about this hate me already so I get it."

Suddenly Naruto stiffened up when a voice penetrated his empty room, "You know they won't hate you Naruto, they are smart enough to see you are the scroll and not the Kunai. And really Naruto, practicing in front of a mirror is so unlike you. I've never known you to be one to be this timid about something, why can't you trust that we know what we're talking about and that your friends will not abandon you."

Naruto twisted around and glared at the intruder, "You can't know that for sure Kakashi-Sensei, none of you understand 'tebayo, I was alone for so long and had no friends, despite how much I tried. I can't go back to t-that p-place."

Kakashi sighed as Naruto's voice hitched and he fell silent, "Naruto, we get that this is hard for you, but you need to have more faith in your friends. If we were talking about telling them back in the academy I could understand why you would have reservations about a few of them, but now. They have matured quite a bit, just like you Naruto, and they will understand, honestly I am willing to bet at least a few of them will have the exact opposite reaction and any negative emotions that come up will be directed towards the village for how they treated their friend."

Naruto looked uncertain as he asked, "Do you really think so Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi nodded in response before he said, "Why don't we go get some ramen, moping in your house is so unlike you."

Naruto instantly perked up at the thought of getting his favorite food, "All right, that sounds great, you're paying Dattebayo." Naruto smiled cheekily and promptly left with Kakashi in tow.

-Ramen-Ramen-Ramen-

After eating their fill at Ichiraku they started walking around town in silence until Naruto finally asked, "Hey Kakashi-sensei, why were you at my house earlier?"

Kakashi eye smiled™ before answering, "Well Naruto, you had us a little worried when you stormed off like that and I volunteered to make sure you were okay. Though I have to say I did not expect to come across you confessing to a mirror. So while I am thinking about it, have you decided how you are going to tell them?"

Naruto looked up sheepishly, "Well when you say it like that it makes me sound really lame, and I was trying to decide that when you dropped in on me. I am not sure whether I want to give them a prepared speech or something more informal and I am not sure how I will handle it if they have a bunch of questions. I was also considering for a bit if I wanted to have someone there to help explain some of the bits I don't understand very well. But the main thing I was thinking about was whether to tell them individually or as teams but I am not sure yet. If I tell more of them at once I don't have to go through it as many times, but if I tell them individually I will be able to get their full response since it won't be tainted by the presence of their friends, but I am still slightly afraid of what those responses will be."

"Naruto" "Don't get me wrong sensei, I want to trust them, but it is so hard when I am so afraid of being alone again. I mean I know I have you, Ero-sennin, Bachan, Shizune-neechan, Iruka-sensei, and the Ichirakus but that still doesn't change the fact that it would be horribly painful to lose even one of my precious people because they have become almost like family to me. It would be like losing Sandaime-Jiji or Sasuke-teme all over again."

Kakashi Sighed as he saw Naruto falter and look away as he thought about his precious student and wondered how to help him. Finally Kakashi just decided to remain silent as he affectionately ruffled Naruto's hair before laughing at Naruto's indignant look as he swatted Kakashi's hand off his head. Kakashi grasped Naruto's shoulder and proceeded to shunshin them up to the Hokage Monument right on top of the Yondaime's head.

Naruto glanced over at Kakashi before questioning, "Why did you bring us up here Kakashi-sensei?"

He answered with an eye smile™ before saying, "Well I know how much you like to sit up here and I felt that our conversation should be had in a more private place than the street so I took you up here."

"Oh, thanks sensei. . . . Hey sensei, what if you guys are wrong, I mean most of my friends were just as mean as the villagers when we were in the academy and you can't just say that it is because they are ninja now cause most of the ninja's in the village are indifferent about me at best. I can't take the thought that even one of them will decide to stop being my friend or even hate me. I don't want to go back to the lonely dark place, I'm not as strong as people seem to think, and I'm not as strong as someone like Gaara who can somehow take a village where everyone hates your guts or are simply terrified of you like his siblings and turn that around and remain sane."

Kakashi looked over in concern as Naruto went from ranting to slightly hyperventilating as he freaked himself out. Kakashi was reminded once more that there was more to his student than the hyperactive sometimes dense child that he was most of the time. If you looked underneath the underneath with Naruto you would come across a wounded child who clung desperately to every bond he could make. Due to this and the fact that he had just started making most of these bonds in the last 4 years of his life Kakashi could imagine it might hurt Naruto more to lose these bonds than it would for any other 'normal' person. Looking at himself, how well had he gotten over the loss of his precious people, and none of his had turned their backs on him, they had simply gone the way of the Shinobi and died protecting what was important to them.

As Naruto managed to get himself under control he looked down at the ground and muttered, "Sorry sensei, you must be so ashamed of me for being so easily overwhelmed by my emotions."

Kakashi looked up, "Hmm, did you say something?"

"Sensei!" "Sorry, sorry I couldn't resist Naruto. But seriously, I am not ashamed of you Naruto, if anything I am proud of you for being as strong as you are, sure Gaara turned his life around and managed to get the recognition of his village, but he only did that because he saw how you lived and valued bonds. I am proud of you, because unlike Gaara you did not decide to become a homicidal maniac because everyone was mean to you growing up."

"I am proud of you because, despite the fact that I know that some of the time you're happy go lucky actions are just a mask to hide your pain, you are often genuinely happy, and you have made this happiness by turning the hearts of the people you now consider precious. And on top of all of that I believe in you, that you will continue to grow and will someday achieve your goal of becoming Hokage and along the way you will prove to all the ignorant people of our village that you are Uzumaki Naruto, not the Kyuubi. And if any of your friends are foolish enough to not see you, then they are the ones who will be losing out on a friendship with one of the most caring and devoted people I know."

Naruto looked shocked as Kakashi finished his little speech and asked, "Really Kakashi-sensei, do you mean that?"

Kakashi sighed and said, "Of course Naruto" before he was tackle hugged by an emotional teen.

-Later-back-at-Naruto's-apartment-

As Naruto walked through his door he looked back at his sensei and said, "Thanks sensei, for believing in me, I will start telling my friends tomorrow."

Kakashi waved before saying, "No problem, I was just happy to help my precious student. And if you want my suggestion, I would start with someone like Shikamaru or Shino as they will be less likely to freak out initially when they find out about Kyuubi and might be able to help you gain the courage to tell the rest of them."

Naruto nodded, "That makes sense, Thanks again Kakashi, good night."

-The-Next-Day-

Naruto was milling around his house and had just finished getting ready for the day when he suddenly heard a knock at the door. As he went to answer it he was surprised to find Shikamaru at the door and before Naruto could ask why he was here Shikamaru said, "I know it's troublesome but Kakashi-sensei came to my door this morning and told me you had something to tell me about …"

**Bwa ha ha cough, hack, wheeze sorry about that, It wasn't my initial intent to do a cliffy but when I got to that part in the story I felt like Kakashi would so tell Shikamaru to come over just to force Naruto to do it and since I had not intended for the actual reveals to come till next chapter I decided to tease you lot a bit and end it like that.**

**Anyways, hopefully you guys like this and hopefully these keep going well, thanks to my second reviewer CressidaRene for your honest opinions about how my first chapter went and hopefully this one is as good if not better. I enjoyed writing this so far and if I am honest the mirror scene was actually supposed to be in last chapter but I felt like the chapter needed to end when it did and that flashback took up most of the plot for that one. I wonder how many of you honestly believed Naruto was talking to one of his friends (maybe Shino or Hinata since they are so quiet) and how many of you realized he was practicing. Tell me in a review if you think I made Naruto and Kakashi too OOC cause that is what I am most worried about and the next couple chapters where he is talking to his friends is going to test my ability to portray these characters correctly. **

**Story is 1870 words long, so only a little bit longer than originally but I did not feel like this chapter needed much more to it. I added a few words and fixed a few grammar mistakes I noticed but honestly I was mostly happy with this one. If it weren't for the fact that the first two chapters felt good split where they were they should have probably been together which would have solved their short length issue ah well.**


	3. Troublesome

**Turmanarmo: Welcome back to my story, sorry it is a bit latter than I was hoping for you see I meant to type it Saturday night but my brother decided randomly at 2 AM shortly after I got off work to force me to help him with making a homemade apple pie because he felt like making pie at 2 AM needless to say…**

**Sakura: LIAR**

**Turmanarmo: But, But, it's true, I really was up till like 4 making pie and then the next day I got distracted by the others living in my house and by the mini blizzard thing we were having here in Nebraska and then I got sucked into our Sunday night community meal/Bible study thing and so I didn't actually sit down to start typing until like 11 PM**

**Sakura: Sure, sure. Next I suppose you will expect me to believe it was something nice like 70°F the day before.**

**Turmanarmo: Yeah, how did you know that, you don't even live in my world.**

**Sakura: Oh never mind, just get on with presenting your story so you can stop putting my friend through so much pain, honestly he has been through enough crap in his life with the way he was treated, he doesn't need you to make him relive it nine times.**

**Turmanarmo: Fine, fine, I will get on with it, thanks for the three new reviews. Hopefully this answers your questions **_**yoai's of Naruto**_** (did you intentionally spell that wrong, I just noticed that). Oh and _CressidaRene_, since your last review got longer last time just like my last chapter, I am expecting an extra-long review out of you this time since my chapter length increased again :P Anyways, Sakura on with the Disclaimer.**

**Sakura: Ahem, Turmanarmo does not own any of us or the Manga/Anime that we are from so to support us you should support the official release of our story. Though I suppose you can read this fan fiction stuff too if you want seeing as it is so popular, though if you are on here to read that perverted hentai crap you are going to get it.**

**Turmanarmo: Okay, before any of us die, goodbye Sakura, thanks for your services, and to all of you readers, please enjoy the story.**

Naruto answered the door and was surprised to find Shikamaru standing there, but before Naruto could speak he heard Shikamaru state, "I know it's troublesome but Kakashi-sensei came to my door this morning and told me you had something to tell me about, so what is it that was so important that I had to make the troublesome walk down to your place."

Naruto stuttered out a "come in" before he moved aside and closed the door as he watched his lazy friend walk over and plop down on his couch and so he decided to grab a chair and sit across from his friend.

They sat there in a somewhat awkward silence until Shikamaru stated the obvious, "Look I know I like being lazy but I could just as easily sit in silence out on a hill watching clouds or something so why don't you tell me what was important enough that your otherwise lazy sensei decided to come over to my house and send me here to talk about."

As Naruto looked up he sighed before saying, "I guess I should start, I think I get why Kakashi sent you over, since he knew I would never feel comfortable enough about this to actually seek you out for this conversation."

Shikamaru raised his eyebrow at this wondering what could be so troublesome that had Naruto acting, well, so un-Naruto. Not that he hadn't seen Naruto depressed before, there was obviously the time when Sasuke left and there was all the times while they were in school when Naruto thought no-one was looking. Now that he thought about it, what had made Naruto like that back in school, at the time he hadn't really cared too much since Naruto wasn't one of his friends at the time and so he had only assumed that was how the kid acted because he was an orphan and everyone seemed to be mean to him, even many of the adults.

"Shikamaru."

Which also brought up another strange thing, sure Naruto was a prankster but why were all the adults always mean to him, and if he really thought about it he realized that Naruto had only started seriously pranking once he got a little older, possibly because it was easier to set them up with his training in the Shinobi arts from the academy. So why did he remember everyone from the kids to the adults still being mean to him earlier than that.

"Shikamaru?"

And on top of that, he also remembered how his own parents and some of the other clan heir's parents acted around the child. Most of them were never mean to him but many of them simply ignored the child like he wasn't there and his dad was really no different, the one-time Naruto was brought up in their house his mom seemed slightly annoyed and his dad simply told him to come to his own conclusions about the boy.

"Shikamaru!"

So what was it that made all of them so mad at him? "HEY LAZY ASS PAY ATTENTION."

Shikamaru looked up to see Naruto with a red face huffing across from him as he shouted obscenities about good for nothing lazy friends ignoring him like his lazy sensei.

Shikamaru chuckled a bit before becoming serious again, "Sorry Naruto, I got side tracked on a tangent in my head and was focused on that for a bit."

"Oh sorry, what were you thinking about Shikamaru?"

"First, don't think that I don't realize you are trying to avoid talking about whatever thing you seem so weirded out by, and second, I was just realizing that there were some strange things going on during my childhood that involved you but I dismissed them at the time because I didn't really know you that well but now that we are friends, they don't make much sense and are slightly bothering me, though if I think about it even if it has gotten better over the years it is still there somewhat."

Naruto looked slightly confused before he realized what Shikamaru might be thinking about, "W-what are you t-talking about s-Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru looked up again before saying, "Hmm, what has you so nervous again all of a sudden, I was just thinking about how the way the villagers treated you as a child made no sense now that I know you better and it seems a bit strange how they still largely ignore you even now except those of us in the three teams from our year, Guy-sensei's team, our sensei, and of course Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama. Thinking about it again, the only person I remember being outright nice to you as a kid besides Iruka-sensei after he got over being mad at you all the time when you first started was Sandaime-sama, which is weird, why would the Hokage take such an interest in you, Sasuke was an orphan too at that point and I never saw the Hokage walking around the village with him like I saw you every once and a while"

Shikamaru looked even more confused especially once he looked up and saw Naruto going from being as white as a sheet to sighing forlornly, "Yeah Hokage-Jiji was always the best even though he didn't have much time for me since he was the Hokage; that was part of the reason I started playing some of my pranks. Since I had no parents Jiji would be the one I was taken to when I was caught, though once Iruka got over his fear of me he would scold me sometimes too."

Shikamaru sighed again, "Jiji, I forgot you called him that, seriously how is it that the people you are the most disrespectful to like you the most, you call your Shishou a perverted sage, you call the previous Hokage an old man, and you call the current one an old lady. And what do you mean Iruka-sensei got over his 'fear' of you, what is that supposed to mean?"

Naruto muttered a quick 'crap' before he sighed, "Honestly Shikamaru you are too smart, I guess that and the other thing you were talking about will make more sense after I tell you what I have to say, but first, I need to ask you a question, what do you know about the bijuu."

"Bijuu? Well I know that there were nine of them and most of them were captured by the first Hokage if the stories we were told as children were true. Hmm, well according to that one short section on them in the textbooks they are beings made entirely out of chakra but outside of that not much. None of them have been seen since the Kyuubi attack fifteen years ago, though that Gaara kid did somehow manage to transform into what several older Shinobi called the Ichibi. Though that doesn't make sense since Gaara seems to be a rather nice person and even became Kazekage and they would never let a demon become a Kage if they are even half as demonic as they are in the fairy tales about them. Though thinking about it Gaara was a bit scary before you fought … him … during. Naruto, are you alright?"

Naruto was torn as he sat across from Shikamaru, Shikamaru was probably only a few minutes from connecting the dots on his own and when he heard Shikamaru talk about whether or not Gaara was the Ichibi Naruto started to get a bit upset, even if Shikamaru was seemingly trying to disprove that in his mind it struck home to what some of the meaner villagers always called him as a child so without noticing Shikamaru had just stopped and was looking at him concerned Naruto blurted out, "We are not demons!"

Now Shikamaru was seriously confused, "What do you mean, I know Gaara isn't a demon Naruto, like I said, if he were would he be half as nice as he is now, I was just wondering how he did that transformation into one is all." Then Shikamaru stopped in his tracks before he questioned, "Wait, what do you mean 'We'?"

Naruto panicked a bit before he started pulling his hair, "Gah, talking to you is so hard, you talk in circles and for every tiny thing I say you connect a ton of the dots to the ending, if you had told me yesterday that when I had this conversation I wouldn't have to explain half of these things I barely understand myself I would have been relieved, but now I am just getting frustrated, and as to the 'we' thing, it relates to the first thing you were talking about since many of the villagers called me a demon or demon-brat as a kid and hearing you call Gaara a demon, even indirectly made me mad. Also, before you ask the questions I know you will, yes this has to do with what I am talking about, and yes it will make sense when I am done."

Naruto sighed as he saw Shikamaru's confused face morph into one of acceptance as Naruto continued, "Anyways, as you pointed out the Bijuu are made entirely of chakra and, without rabbit trailing," here he glared at his friend as he shrugged back, "what do you know about chakra conservation?"

"Well that's simple, it can't be created … or … destroyed, but wait…"

"STOP, I said no rabbit trailing, yes I know, since it can't be destroyed, how did the Yondaime manage to destroy the Kyuubi, well the simple answer is he didn't because it would be futile, if he 'destroyed' the Kyuubi all that would have happened would be it dispersed and eventually it would reform and attack again, at least that is what Ero-sennin said. Now back to that story, it is true that the Yondaime 'defeated' the tailed beast that day at the cost of his life. To defeat his enemy he had to utilize a branch of the Shinobi arts that Jiji and Ero-sennin said he excelled at, which was fuinjutsu."

Shikamaru looked shocked by this, "So Yondaime-sama managed to seal away something as strong as the Kyuubi while it was likely attacking him, that is impressive, no wonder all the adults who were alive for the attack seem to respect him so much. And no wonder he is the Hokage you admire so much and wish to surpass. Though, why do you know all this when we don't, and what is wrong with putting this info in the textbooks instead of lying about it, it's not like they have to tell us where the scroll or whatever container he used is located if they are afraid of other villages knowing about its location, so why lie about it?"

Naruto huffed as he said, "I thought I said to stop rabbit trailing Shikamaru, though I suppose given how smart you are that would be like asking Bushy Brows to stop talking about youth. Anyways, yeah you are right for the most part about the Yondaime being amazing (mutter) even if he did pick me (mutter)" "What was that Naruto?" "Nothing, anyways the thing you are wrong about is what he sealed it inside, sure most things can be sealed inside something simple like a scroll but based on what I was told something with as much power as a Bijuu would be impossible to fit inside such a limited container. Apparently there are a few specially designed objects that can at least temporarily store such a massive chakra, but with something as powerful as the Kyuubi there would be no way it would be permanent so a 'better' container is needed."

"The best way for this to be done is for the Bijuu to be contained in something with Chakra coils, so a living organism and it is even better if it is human since our chakra coils have the most room for growth compared to all living things except maybe summons who are probably similar. Anyways, to minimize the strain on the coils of the person it is best if they are a child so there coils have time to grow and adapt to the huge amounts of demonic chakra that is within them."

Shikamaru blinked a few times at this and sighed as he connected where this was likely going so he decided to let Naruto continue so as not to upset him and possibly stop him before he could say it out loud, "Now, 'conveniently' there was a kid who just so happened to be born on that day and just so happened to be orphaned by said beast so the teme decided to put the Bijuu inside this kid."

Naruto shuddered as Shikamaru snorted silently at the teme remark, since even if he was Naruto's favorite Hokage, he did deserve that for sealing a demon inside his friend. "Well, I suppose there is no point in not saying it now, I was that kid Shikamaru, I am the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, and I am sure this explains why all the villagers hated me as a kid and yes, Gaara is also a Jinchuuriki, as he contains the Ichibi. I will understand if you don't trust me anymore and if you don't want to have anything to do with me, just please don't tell the others."

Naruto glanced up as Shikamaru Snorted loudly as he said, "Honestly Naruto, I would be laughing at that comment right now if this whole thing weren't so troublesome. I know the rest of the village hasn't been a good example, and we weren't always the nicest to you when we were younger, but did you seriously believe I would stop being friends with you or even hate you over something like this. If it weren't so sad and probably based in some Pavlovian impulse I would be insulted."

"Pave-what?"

"Never mind, Can I see your seal?"

Naruto gasped, "My seal, why would you want to see that?"

Shikamaru looked at him for a second before stating, "Well I may not have any experience with Fuinjutsu but it would still be cool to see this masterpiece that can apparently contain a several story tall Kitsune made of demonic chakra within your scrawny body"

Shikamaru smirked as his plan to distract Naruto from his depression worked as he fumed over the scrawny comment before saying, "Well, can I or what?"

Naruto sighed before pulling off his jacket and shirt and channeling some chakra to make the seal appear on his stomach. As Shikamaru saw it appear he whistled as he looked up and said, "That looks incredibly intricate, if I didn't know that you can write these seals with chakra I would wonder how he could have drawn all of those symbols accurately while fighting the Kyuubi."

Naruto shrugged and said, "Ero-Sennin said it was called the Eight Trigrams Seal and it is actually two Four Symbols Seals overlapping which allows Kyuubi to be completely held within me but I can still use his chakra. For example whenever I get injured apparently the Kyuubi chakra that floats around in me normally is what heals me faster. I like to think of it as my way of extracting rent from him since he won't let me use his chakra without trying to control my mind by messing with my emotions."

Shikamaru snorted again as he said, "Only you Naruto, would think that the being that was trapped inside of you against both of your wills should pay you rent. Anyways, we have been inside way too long having this troublesome discussion, so I am going to go lay on a hill and watch some clouds after I go grab some lunch, do you want to come with me."

Naruto laughed as he agreed and followed his friend to Yakiniku Q despite Naruto's insistence that Ramen was better than grilled meat but he had fun anyway. As they lounged on a hill Naruto was smiling like an idiot and when Shikamaru asked him what was making him so happy Naruto responded, "Well I just have never been so happy to be wrong in my life."

At Shikamaru's questioning look Naruto continued, "Well yesterday Baachan, Ero-sennin, and Kakashi-Sensei more or less ordered me to tell all of my friends about Kyuubi due to the threat from Akatsuki and I didn't believe them when they insisted you guys wouldn't hold it against me. Plus I sort of stormed out of her office when they wouldn't listen to me. Now I feel so much happier knowing that you know about it and still actually want to be around me so even though I am still worried about the others a bit, I feel much better about it, I just need to decide who I am going to tell next, should I tell the rest of your teammates to keep you from accidently blabbing."

Naruto smirked over at his friend as he snorted and put on a face like he was hurt by that insinuation. "Or should I go with another one of my genius logical friends like Shino or Neji, because I am not sure if I am quite ready to see how Ino or Hinata will react to this."

Shikamaru looked over and smirked as he said, "Well you should definitely either have someone else tell Hinata or tell her by letter if you don't want her to faint repeatedly during your conversation, or at least when you do talk to her try not to get to close to her, even when she does faint."

Naruto's cry of indignation was interrupted by Shikamaru commenting, "Or you could just tell Ino now and save yourself the time because before a day has passed everyone in the village that didn't know will, though even she might be able to hold her tongue for something this important, troublesome woman."

They both remained quiet for a few moments before they burst out laughing and by the time that they were done Naruto was crying from how hard he was laughing at Ino's expense since even though he knew she would never tell any Shinobi secrets or intentionally harm a friend by revealing anything this important, she was still unofficially known as Konoha's kunoichi gossip queen and could be relied upon to know something about everyone in the village given her side job at her family flower shop where she overheard all sorts of conversations.

Naruto sighed happily as he thought about how tomorrow was going to go and who he should talk to next. Neither of them noticed Kakashi sitting in a tree nearby fondly watching his precious student and just starting to read his famous 'literature' now that he was sure everything had turned out okay. Honestly the main reason he was even there was to see that look of joy that Naruto had right now and he couldn't wait to see how happy Naruto would be once he realized that none of his friends would betray his trust.

**Story is 3179 words long this time, honestly Shikamaru just wouldn't stop rabbit trailing, despite the fact that I am worried they may be ooc, I was surprised at how easily the lines kept writing themselves, I only had to stop every once and a while when a line decided to go nowhere useful.**

**Anyways, no cliffy this time and if you want you can suggest who you think should be next in a review since I actually have not plotted out the order for them yet, honestly I only decided to do Shikamaru when I was writing the last paragraph of last chapter so take that as you will. Also I now understand why people like shortening his name to Shika in a lot of stories where he is a main character, writing his name out fully so many times got really old really fast, which is strange cause his name isn't that much longer than many of the other characters.**

**But anyways enough of my winy little rant, please tell me in a review whether this went well, anyone was too ooc, or anything like that since I don't want this story to fall into that category of poorly written reveal stories since several of the few reveal stories on this site fall into that category (or they are bashing fics, which 99% of the time make them feel this way to me, even when it is bashing Sasuke, who is easily one of my least favorite characters in Naruto).**


	4. Illogical Logic

**Turmanarmo: Ugh, why is writing you so much easier than writing the others, honestly I am lost for what I am going to do for some of the Konoha 11, sure a few of them have obvious responses, but how the *insert random bad word here* am I supposed to do someone like TenTen or one of the people who will be quiet the whole time, Naruto cannot singlehandedly carry this conversation.**

**Shikamaru: Troublesome author, just stop moaning and get on with presenting this chapter, and if you find this task so troublesome why not just do what I would do and forfeit the endeavor, maybe go watch some clouds.**

**Turmanarmo: NO, I refuse to be one of those who just abandons my fic, I will find a way to do this, I must for the readers, and for Naruto.**

**Shikamaru: I fail to see how this affects Naruto, but just to limit how long I have to stay here let's get on with this, for all of you troublesome lawyers out there, no this baka doesn't own Naruto or anything of worth probably so it wouldn't really be worth your time to sue him. Bye**

**Turmanarmo: Sigh, oh well, Thanks my two reviewers for talking to me and to the crap ton of people who have read this, why you know drop a review, tell me it was good, tell me it was trash, say hi, anything, just don't leave me hanging.**

As Naruto strolled through Konoha, he thought about how things had been going, two short days ago he started this emotional rollercoaster with a plummet into despair and anger just thinking about how his friends might react to his tale. Then with the help of Kakashi-sensei he leveled out before slightly rising with his Sensei's kind words before he fell back a bit during the evening and during the early parts of his day with Shikamaru. Then after he and Shikamaru talked Naruto was back on his way to high spirits but it leveled out a bit when he remembered that he still had more people to tell and not all of them were as analytical and logical as Shikamaru except maybe Shino or Neji.

Anyways, he was now walking through the outskirts of town where the Clans who felt the need to distance themselves from the village for whatever reason lived. The Nara's lived out here so they could tend to their deer and be nearer to their sacred forests. The Inuzuka lived here so their ninken had more room to run and so they could have the space to run their veterinary clinic. The Hyuuga also had their estate out here so they wouldn't have to deal with people worrying about their privacy being invaded by the Byakugan. And of course there was the Aburame clan who lived out here so they could make a habitat for their insects and avoid having to deal with the villagers who were bothered by them.

In the end Naruto found himself standing outside of a compound which seemed to contain several large greenhouse like structures that appeared to have different worlds inside. There was one that looked like a desert, another which looked like a jungle, and several more strange environments that weren't natural to this part of the Land of Fire. As he walked up to the front door a low buzzing sound began before a man wearing a high collared jacket and sunglasses appeared in front of him.

"Why are you here?"

Naruto raised his eyebrow, "Hello to you too. I was looking for one of my friends, I think he lives here, his name is Shino, do you know him?"

Shibi remained stoic even if he was slightly surprised to find out this boy considered his son a friend. "Yes I know him, why you ask, because he is my son. If you will follow me I will show you to him."

Naruto chuckled softly at how similar his friend was to his father before following the man. As they walked Naruto noticed they were heading to the back of the compound and as he looked he saw Shino (or at lease someone wearing Shino's jacket) meditating at the back of the field with several insects flying about him.

Once his bugs alerted him that the peculiar chakra signature that belonged to Naruto was following his Father towards him Shino Turned to greet them.

Shino's eyebrow quirked as he asked, "Naruto? I am surprised to see you here, why you ask, because I have never seen you around my house before and did not invite you over. Why did you come?"

Naruto responded, "I know you are still mad at me over not being able to identify you when I first saw you when I came back but is that any reason why I shouldn't be able to talk with one of my friends? The reason I am here is because I need to talk to you about something and I was wondering if you were busy today."

Shino sighed, "I suppose I should forget about that instance even if it hurt being forgotten. And yes I am free today as Tsunade-sama gave all of my teammates the week off for some reason and so I was simply meditating to increase my bond with my allies, though I suppose I could increase my bond with my comrades instead."

As Shibi left Naruto sat across from Shino and was about to speak when Shino surprisingly interrupted him and asked, "Naruto, I have a question before we begin talking, I have often noticed when you are around me that my insects react strangely too you."

"What do you mean Shino?"

"Well whenever you are around my insects immediately take note of your chakra like you are some sort of bright beacon and they like to fly around you because you virtually leak chakra when you are not actively trying to suppress it but whenever they come back they have a strange response to you."

Naruto seemed faintly amused as he asked, "Oh and what might that be?"

Shino continued, "Well they enjoy how your chakra 'tastes' but when they are done eating it they also seem to have trouble digesting all of it and it makes some of them sick sometimes."

Naruto thought about this for a moment before stating, "Well I suppose they could be reacting to 'his' chakra since it is rather potent, here let me try something Shino."

Naruto fell silent for a moment before suddenly a slightly darker presence seemed to appear and Naruto opened his eyes and Shino noted that while his right eye was its normal blue, his left eye was now silted and red. Shino was very intrigued by this as Naruto spoke again saying, "Wow separating my Chakra was a bit harder than I thought it would be. I am going to mold some of my chakra into my right and left palms, send a few insects to eat some of it out of each and tell me what they think."

Shino nodded before a few black specks flew over to Naruto's glowing palms and then flew back." Shino was even more surprised when they came back because the ones that went to the right palm seemed really happy and showed no sign of illness and the ones from the left palm reported that they were afraid to eat that chakra as it looked poisonous. Shino looked up and reported this to Naruto before he asked, "do you have some sort of Kekkei Genkai that makes your Chakra poisonous and why is your eye red on the side with the poison chakra."

Naruto 'hmmed' before stating, "Well that confirms my theory, they like my chakra, which is weirdly flattering by the way, and are hurt by 'his' chakra. Shino, I think it would be best if we move onto the thing I needed to talk to you about before I answer your question, sorry."

Shino nodded though he was still curious and allowed Naruto to continue, "Well I suppose I should start the same way I did with Shikamaru, Shino what do you know about the Bijuu?"

Shino actually showed a slight amount of surprise on his face before he answered, "I do not know much about them outside of the fact that there are nine of them and that they are beings of malevolent chakra, why? Because that is all we were taught about them in the academy. Obviously I know that one of them, the Kyuubi, attacked our village 15 years ago and that a very long time ago my Clan had a slight fascination with the Nanabi since it took the form of an insect though we never were able to do anything before the Shodai Hokage captured them and they disappeared. I am curious though, why is this pertinent to our conversation?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow before saying, "Nanabi is an insect, that is interesting, the only ones I knew about where the fox Kyuubi and the tanuki Ichibi. Anyways, the important part of that information is the fact that they are made out of chakra, now what do you know about chakra conservation?"

Shino hummed before responding, "Well Chakra cannot be created or destroyed only converted from one form to another, such as when my insects eat another's chakra and convert it to energy they can use."

Naruto nodded before saying, "Correct, so imagine if you could contain the Bijuu inside of something, you could use it as a sort of battery to energize whatever you put it in near infinitely, though you would need some way to suppress the consciousness of the Bijuu or it would just take over the object and somehow make it turn on you."

Shino nodded, "Your best bet would be to use another consciousness and to design a seal that would only allow the Bijuu any chance at control when its chakra was being actively used."

Naruto frowned and nodded, "Yes that is true, and in order for the being to have any chance of controlling the bijuu it would almost definitely have to be a human and a very determined one as well. Now imagine that you are still not satisfied with creating a Ninja that will never run out of energy, you are looking to create the ultimate weapon so you make it so that the 'host' can call on more than just a trickle of the power, though this by extension will also mean more of its influence as well. The side effect of this would be that the Bijuu would also have a chance of taking control more easily, especially when the host calls on their powers out of desperation, for instance when they are near death or emotionally unstable."

Shino's eyebrow raised once more, "Well that seems unnecessarily dangerous for the host and those around them. I am curious where this conversation is headed, why? Because a hypothetical scenario like this would only be brought up if either you were looking to do something like this, or someone has already done it."

Naruto sighed and looked away which only served to confuse and intrigue Shino further before he looked back with determination, "It is called a Jinchuuriki."

Shino tilted his head as he questioned, "Human Sacrifice? That is a morbid word, what do you mean it is called a Jinchuuriki."

Naruto snorted, "Morbid? Well there is an apt description if I ever heard one. A Jinchuuriki is a human who has 'sacrificed" their own safety to gain this power at least that is what it first meant. From what I was told shortly after they started experimenting with the idea they found out that sealing it inside a child was the best way to minimize that chance of the chakra from just frying its host and being released again and they also soon realized the sooner the better since it increased the chance of the host developing resonance with and immunity to the potency of the chakra. Unfortunately for some the seals used were not well designed which allowed the Bijuu further control over their host."

Shino interrupted, "That is terrible, but I am curious that I have never heard of such a being, why you ask, because something like that would likely be used as a weapon of great effect and thus should be warned about in the chance we meet one of these Jinchuuriki."

Naruto shook his head as he said, "You would think that but I suppose since it is not a time of war most of these hosts rarely need their power so you could meet one and not necessarily know about it. Though you have in fact met two Jinchuuriki Shino."

Shino twitched slightly as he said, "Oh? Who are these Jinchuuriki?"

Naruto shifted uncomfortably, "Well the first, and probably most obvious to you would be Gaara, the Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi. He is one of the ones suffering from a weaker seal, though now that his burden has been removed he no longer has to deal with that. And honestly if the last three years have been any indicator, the main issue for a Jinchuuriki is less about seal strength and more about will. Unfortunately when you grow up as a Jinchuuriki you are not always treated the best and Gaara had it about as bad as he could get. Besides everyone young and old in the village hating him, his own father tried to murder him, it is barely any surprise his will to suppress the Ichibi and protect his village was low."

Shino nodded, "That explains why he acted so strange during the chuunin exams and why there were stories about him turning into a giant monster during his fight with you. Though that still leaves the question of who the other Jinchuuriki is."

Naruto snorted, "You caught that did you, and honestly I am surprised you have not worked it out yet. Well let's move back a bit then, as we discussed earlier Chakra cannot be created or destroyed so there is no way the Yondaime could have killed the Kyuubi, and since he was a master of Fuinjutsu he defeated it by sealing it into our village's Jinchuuriki."

Shino nodded slowly, "That makes sense though who is this Jinchuuriki I apparently know, based on what you said earlier he would most likely be around our age or slightly older but I also wish to know, why was this hidden from us?"

Naruto nodded as well before pointing out, "Well you are right about the age, and as to why it was hidden that would likely be due to the fact that Jiji wished to hide the fact from as many of our village as possible but somehow everyone ended up knowing about it anyway and so in an effort to prevent the children of our generation being poisoned against the child due to the fear of knowing that the Kyuubi lived inside of them it was made a law that the status of the child could not be revealed to anyone who did not already know about it."

Shino tilted his head to show his genuine confusion, "Then is this conversation not illegal, why because of this same law you just mentioned."

Naruto snorted before he started laughing, "Wait you are moments away from knowing who the fox is and you are concerned about breaking a law, that is rich."

Shino's aura darkened a bit as he said, "First off they would be the fox no more than I am an insect, sure we both contain these things, but we would both still be human, and second how can you take a law created by the Sandaime who you loved so much so lightly."

Naruto looked shocked at what Shino said before smiling fondly and saying, "Thanks Shino, and the reason I can take the law so lightly is because it does not apply to me, I can share my status as the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki with whomever I wish."

Silence fell over the clearing before an angry buzzing emanated from Shino as he began to mutter to himself. Naruto, not expecting this reaction backed away slightly and for a second almost thought Shino was angry with him before Shino looked up and stated. "Well the villagers are even less logical than I thought."

Naruto burst out laughing and barely struggled out a, "How so?" Between his gasps for air.

Shino patiently waited for his friend to stop laughing before he said, "Well given what you said earlier about how Jinchuuriki grow up I assume that explains the strange behavior the adults of the village displayed around you. Even though for the villagers it could be blamed on ignorance, surely the Shinobi must realize that you growing up shunned could lead to you being mentally unstable and thus a danger to us all, so why were they just as bad about hating you."

"For a short time I assumed that you were similar to me in that you contained something that disturbed them but then I noticed that while the looks towards our clan were mostly from them being grossed out and the looks of disgust sent towards you seemed to be utter hatred I dismissed it at the time."

"Now I see that we were similar in a way, though I should have used it as an opportunity to reach out to you instead of turning my back on it and you."

After a short silence Naruto swore he heard Shino chuckle before he said, "You know Naruto, you really are the most illogical person I know. Why you ask, because any logical person would either hold a grudge against the villagers for how they treated you or at least give up on the quest to gain their respect. But you keep going no matter what and strive to earn their respect and eventually to become Hokage and then to ironically be the protector of those who would wish you dead."

Naruto looked up towards the sky as he responded, "You know Shino, maybe that is why you logical people never seem to have as much fun. Sure trying to do the impossible is hard and illogical, but if I didn't do that I wouldn't have you guys as my friends I would probably have turned out like Sasuke and left the village to either get more power to destroy it or just to escape the hatred. Honestly I can't imagine any happiness coming from that life, sure it was hard to begin with but the rewards are already well worth the work and I am not even Hokage yet."

As he glanced over to his friend he had to agree, the idea of an evil Naruto just didn't sit right for some reason and for once he had to agree with Naruto, the illogical choice was much better, for everyone. And he could only think, that given how much he cherished his friends, maybe one day Naruto would achieve his dream and become the greatest Hokage ever, and then the villagers would see how lucky they are.

At the same time Naruto was musing silently about how Shino had said they were similar in some ways and even though he hadn't meant it that way, he had to wonder what it would be like to have a symbiotic relationship with Kyuubi, but he would worry about that at another time.

**This one felt much worse than Shikamaru's section and I am not surprised given how little Shino makes it into both the actual cannon and people's fanfics (at least the ones I have read). Hopefully he is not too ooc and hopefully Naruto wasn't too smart. Seriously balancing Naruto's brains is harder than I would have thought, I hate it when he is the know nothing dunce he often is in the real story but making him too smart is just as jarring unless he is supposed to be that way.**

**Anywho Story is 3014 words this time and I felt like I was struggling to close this one off properly since I wanted to avoid this becoming a copy of the Shikamaru story with Shinoized responses thrown in, and I am now wondering how I am going to come up with 8 more ways to tell this story. I feel like just skipping the talk would shorten the story/impact too much but I also don't want to do any full team/multi people telling's either for some reason, sigh.**


	5. Sewer Walk no Jutsu

**Turmanarmo: Okay, I am back guys. Sorry about the long wait, I started it before the weekend started but I left about halfway through to spend time with my family and only brought my tablet home with me so the most writing I was willing to do was review responses. Plus the characters in this chapter refused to shut up.**

**Neji: Hey I take offense to that I wouldn't talk for that long unless I actually needed too.**

**Turmanarmo: Uhm, Neji sorry to break it to you but you're not in this chapter.**

**Neji: What, but you had clearly been doing the Geniuses first and so I am clearly the third person to tell. Who else did you do instead, I suppose you did Hinata-Sama or maybe the mutt Kiba. Or did you do one of those interlude chapters before getting to me.**

**Turmanarmo: Neji you can find out the same time as everyone else when you read the chapter. Though as a side note you look hilarious when you pout. It clashes with your normally refined personality.**

**Neji: Hmpf. Hyuuga's do not pout, and anyways I assume you called me here to do the disclaimer, so onwards. Turmanarmo does not own the Naruto Manga or the Anime. And despite the fact that I now believe you can change ones fate, I was obviously fated to be next but he changed it to spite both fate and me. Because of this I now question his ability to do this story justice and will warn you to leave while you still can.**

**Turmanarmo: Anywho, now that that is done Thanks to all of those who reviewed last chapter and those of you who followed/favorited my story. On with the story.**

Naruto was wondering through town towards one of his favorite locations, Ichiraku Ramen. As he sat down he wondered if maybe he should tell a second person today given that his talk with Shino didn't take very long, however since he had yet to decide who to tell next he decided against it unless he ran into one of them today. After his hearty and early lunch he decided today was a good day for training since he hadn't done much for the last two days.

A few hours later saw Naruto laying on the ground panting. He hadn't realized how hot it was today until he started his vigorous training and since no one else was around he had ditched his jacket and shirt about an hour in. He lay there struggling to catch his breath and cool himself down until he nearly jumped out of shock when he heard someone wolf whistle at him from the edge of the clearing.

As he looked up he noticed Ino approaching from his left as she commented, "You know you are quite fit for someone who eats that much unhealthy food, I don't see an ounce of fat on your body. Also why in the world do you wear those baggy jumpsuits, sure they aren't as baggy as the one you wore as a kid, but they still don't show off your body, and you definitely have one to show off."

Naruto stuttered out a horrified "I-Ino!" as he got up to try and retrieve his jacket. However his embarrassed face turned to slight outrage when she snatched his jacket and proceeded to walk off with it towards the trees, leading him to shout, "Hey, Ino come back here with that."

As she reached the shade she put his jacket down in a pile and proceeded to plop down on it under the tree as she shouted, "You know Naruto if you are trying to cool off you should definitely come sit in the shade, and stop acting so embarrassed, haven't you ever been shirtless in front of a woman before."

Naruto muttered about his rude friend as he walked over and sat down near Ino before saying, "Well yeah, I have but they usually don't make fun of how I look."

Ino tilted her head as she said, "Make fun of? The only thing I made fun of was your jumpsuits for not being good at showing off your body, Take Lee for instance, he wears that spandex which from a fashion perspective is about as bad as you wearing bright orange" "Hey" "But from a showing off perspective it lets all of us ladies ogle his fit body. All I am saying is throw a tight shirt or two into your wardrobe and maybe you could get some girls to notice you. If you're hot there is nothing wrong with showing off a little." At this she posed lightly before giggling.

Naruto turned bright red as he responded, "O-oh, I thought you were making fun of me when you commented about my looks, sorry, no one has ever really said something like that to me before. Ero-sennin once commented about how skinny I was but he was making fun of me and trying to make a point about me being malnourished which made me scrawny and short."

Ino snorted, "For someone who is normally so brave and self-assured you sure are meek about the weirdest things. You have a nice toned body and if you were a little less loud and annoying you would totally be dateable material for those of us who don't already have our minds on someone else."

Naruto sighed and shook his head before saying, "No offense Ino but I don't really want to date anyone who just wants to date me because I look nice, and can I have my jacket back now, please."

Ino laughed as she responded, "I suppose you wouldn't would you, you always were a caring and nice person, even if you are annoyingly loud. And no, you can't because it is making you uncomfortable and I think it is hilarious to see you so flustered."

Naruto drooped his head and it looked like a cloud had formed over him as he said, "Why do you have to be so mean Ino?"

Ino smiled evilly before asking, "Anyways, why were you out here training on your day off? I know that Tsunade-sama gave all three of our year's teams the week off as well as Guy's team so why waste it training when you could spend it with your friends."

Naruto snorted before answering, "Training is never a waste of time if I want to get stronger and become Hokage some day, and I spent most of the day yesterday talking with Shikamaru and this morning talking with Shino, so it's not like I haven't been spending time with my friends. Which reminds me I need to talk to you too and since you are here I might as well get you out of the way now."

Ino raised her brow at this before responding, "Why were you talking with my lazy teammate and Shino, and why do you need to talk to me as well. Plus you could sound a little bit happier about talking with me, I am loads of fun to talk to."

Naruto cracked a smile as he pointed out, "Says the person who is intentionally trying to make me uncomfortable by making me sit around without my shirt. Plus it is less about who I am talking to and more to do with what I have to talk about, I am not really sure how you will react since you will be the first girl I have told about it and only like the third person who will know about this that wasn't told by someone else or already knew it."

Ino looked slightly worried as she asked, "What are you telling me Naruto. Are you coming out! Oh god no wonder you are so weirded out. Sigh, all the hot ones are gay, Hinata will be so disappointed."

Naruto choked as he said, "What! I'm not gay 'tebayo, I like Sakura-chan you know that, why would you think that! And why would Hinata be disappointed?"

Ino laughed as she said, "Oh sorry Naruto it just seemed like that was what you were trying to do, and for all I know you could be saying that as a cover, you could really be in love with Sasuke-kun or something since he is so dreamy. And if you still don't know about Hinata you are more hopeless than I thought."

Naruto made a gaging sound as he responded, "Ugh, why would you even think something like that, I don't want the Teme anywhere near me unless he is fully clothed. It was bad enough he ended up being my first kiss because of that stupid accident back at the academy, but that's just weird Ino. The Teme can be gay if he wants to, but I'm not sticking my dick in his ass."

Ino turned red from a combination of embarrassment and fury, "Why do you have to be so vulgar Naruto, and my Sasuke-kun isn't gay! And even if he was he would be the Seme not the Uke you baka!"

Naruto, huffed, "Please Ino his name is Sas-UKE, he may act aggressive in public but he would so be the Uke. And plus Ino, how is it that you think I am Gay when I clearly like Sakura-Chan but you don't think the Teme is Gay when he has never shown interest in any female ever and you have to admit you just finished saying 'all the hot ones are gay' and since you think he is hot too, then by your definition he should be gay."

Ino huffed, "Naruto, you are such a baka, I don't know why Forehead started to be friends with you instead of still hating you, I'm not sure if I could handle being on a team with you. But fine, I guess you might not be gay. Anyways, if that wasn't what you wanted to talk about, then what is so important that has you wierding out over there?"

Naruto closed his mouth and looked away thinking for a second before glancing back up, "Hmm thinking about it I wonder if showing you might be the easier way, first I will need to tell you some things before showing you the angry fuzzball, but then again introducing you may be a bad idea, I mean he is so annoying and I wouldn't put it past him to lie to you to try and scare you. Though I suppose you are smart enough to figure out if he is lying and as long as I fully explain it first you should be good."

Ino raised an eyebrow before responding with a laugh, "Naruto what in the world are you talking about, and nothing you are saying is making any sense. Plus fuzzball is a mean thing to call one of your friends and I thought I knew all of your friends?

Naruto looked mortified before he burst out laughing and had to wait till he calmed down before responding with, "Please, the fuzzball is not my friend, if anything he is one of the main reasons why my life was as bad as it was before I made my first friends." Naruto snorted as he thought, it would be nice if he wasn't so hostile though, and I reached Gaara so I might have to try that with him someday, but for now I have a task to get back to. At this Naruto swore he heard an indignant 'tsk' in the back of his head but ignored it since Ino hadn't done anything and he couldn't see anyone else around.

Ino looked confused for a bit as she said, "Bad? I know you were an orphan, but you have always seemed so happy to me, even back in the academy, before you … had … any … friends." Ino winced at this part before looking away slightly embarrassed.

Naruto sighed, "I suppose I can't expect all of you to be as observant as Shikamaru and Shino, even if neither of them really thought about it much either. And to your always happy thought, sure I always 'acted' happy but did you really think an orphan who was picked on by all the kids and hated by most of the village could be that happy. Sure I had some friends by that time, but they were all adults like Iruka-sensei, Hokage-Jiji, and the Ichirakus. I knew you obsessed over your precious Sasuke, but I would have hoped someone who works with the mind all the time would have realized that my happiness was a mask at least part of the time."

Ino looked up to notice the aura of doom hanging around Naruto before he slipped a smile on that for once she noticed was not reflected in his eyes before he carried on, "Anyways, back to what I was talking about. First, I know you can enter people's minds and control them, but can you enter my mindscape with me and talk with me there."

Ino looked shocked before she said, "You know about your mindscape, but my Dad always said very few people knew how to enter there mindscape and those were usually old farts who were very in tuned with themselves and meditated all the time. And no offense Naruto, but you don't really seem like the type to meditate all the time."

Naruto snorted as he said, "Normally you would be right but I am a bit of a special case and since I first entered my mind Ero-Sennin showed me how to meditate to enter it easier. Anyways, you didn't answer my question can you do that?"

Ino snorted before saying "Sure, with our family interrogation Jutsu I can enter your mind and if I choose I can have you with me. But why would I want to enter your mind it is probably filled with perverted things since you are a teenage boy and given who your Sensei is."

Naruto shouted, "Hey just because Ero-Sennin is my Sensei and Kakashi-sensei is just as much of a pervert does not automatically mean I am a pervert. Plus like I said I have been to my mindscape and most of my memories and thoughts are behind doors so even if there are any perverted thoughts they are inside those doors and I can see what is inside just by grabbing the handle, so you won't have to worry about it anyways."

Ino looked thoughtful and said, "I suppose that explains why Shikamaru and Choji acted so weird when I wanted to enter some of their memory rooms when I tested it on them, and here I just thought they didn't want to share with me. Anyways, sure I guess we could do this, here let me start then."

She formed some hand-seals before touching his head and as she was pushing her way in she swore she noticed a black mark swirl into life on Naruto's stomach but dismissed it quickly as she looked around at her new surroundings as Naruto materialized next to her. "Hey Naruto I know I have heard of peoples mind being in the gutter but this is the first time I have seen a sewer for a mindscape. I know you said you had a bad childhood but that is an understatement if this is what your brain looks like. My dad told me that the way a person's mind manifests before they learn to control it is a good measure of their mental state. I honestly expected your mind to be filled with Ramen, I mean Choji's had food everywhere and pictures of his friends floating around and Shikamaru's had clouds in the shape of his friends and a large Shogi board in the middle of it."

Naruto hummed before responding, "Well I do have a room where most of my memories are stored that is a bit nicer looking than this but this is where I always start in my mind, here why don't we head to my section instead of the prison."

As Ino started to ask what he meant by the prison she suddenly found herself shift and they were suddenly standing in front of a dull orange door which contrasted horribly with the dark, Green? She thought it might have been green once, corridor and as he opened the door it was strange to note that the water sat floating outside of the door almost like there was a force field holding it back. As she walked in she was thinking about how different this place looked, its color scheme got progressively happier as she left the entrance and she voiced her question, "I have some other things to ask in a bit, but first why is this room set up like this, it gets wider as you go farther back and the Orange paint on the walls gets brighter and more obnoxious as you go farther back. Also, it was impressive that we can just teleport here, usually you have to have pretty good mental control to do something like that."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Thanks I guess. As to why the room is the way it is, I have noticed that the longer I live the longer the room gets and the color of the wall reflects my overall happiness at that point in my life, if I focus I can stretch the room out and the paint becomes more detailed. For instance it dulls out again when things like Jiji dying or Sasuke leaving occur but gets really bright whenever I add a new friend or meet someone that I can at least call a really good acquaintance. Also, you will notice that all my friends pictures are put up on the wall when I first became there friends, though Sasuke's won't stay on the wall no matter how hard I try to put it back up. See look, this is when you guys first started being my friends."

Ino looked slightly sad as she noticed that the pictures of the other two teams of the rookie 9 were only a little ways down from team sevens photos. She also noted that under each photo there was a door that had a special coloration and symbol for each person. For instance her door was purple and had flowers hanging on it, while Sakura's was bright pink with a Sakura tree on it, though under that there was the symbol of the medical core, which looked freshly added. She noted that a couple of the doors had slightly darker paint schemes than the others, she was impressed especially by the fact that Shikamaru's gray door seemed so bright even compared to her purple door. She figured the brightness of the paint had to do with the status of their friendship and she felt slightly hurt that her door was among the ones that were not too bright. In fact hers seemed to be similar in brightness to all of Naruto's same age friends except Sakura, Shikamaru, and Shino, though she did notice that Sasuke's door looked like it was scuffed up from overuse and was the dullest of them all except maybe that door on the end for the new member of Team seven, the guy named Sai, though she thought it was funny because that door was still under construction like Naruto was still building that friendship even if his mind had already decided that Sai belonged as one. She looked up and asked, "Why does Shikamaru's and Shino's doors look so bright even though they are dull colors like gray and that camo green color Shino wears, I figure the color brightness has something to do with how good of friends you are with them, so why them?"

Naruto looked like he was thinking hard so Ino decided to wait patiently for his answer before he said, "Well if I had to guess it is because they have accepted me despite what I told them and so I am surer about our friendship now. I mean look at Teme's door, he still is my friend even if he doesn't want to be right now and I am adding one for Sai because I want him to be my friend too, even if he is an insensitive Teme as well, but both of their doors are dull because I am unsure about our friendship at this point." At this Naruto Smirked and snorted before continuing, "I figure that many of these doors will get much brighter over the next few days if this conversation keeps going the way it has been. Anyways, we need to head to one of the memory doors instead of my friend's doors. However, as we walk I need to ask you something. Do you know anything about the Bijuu?"

Ino looked confused as she asked, "Bijuu, what do those have to do with anything?" At Naruto's pointed 'no questions' look she responded, "Well I guess if my memory is right they are big evil monsters from fairy tales that eat people who are naughty, though obviously they do exist since our village was attacked by the Kyuubi about 15 years ago. So I suppose since it is called the 'nine tails' there must be at least nine of them. I know that for something as important as the Kyuubi attack the Academy barely brings it up and all the adults get tense whenever it is brought up in conversation like they know something strange, but Daddy told me not to worry about it so I don't think about it much. Anyways, I know that the Yondaime defeated the Kyuubi at the cost of his own life, which is sad because based on the few pictures I have seen of him he looked like quite the hottie. Hmm, thinking about it you kind of look like him, though really only in the hair and eye department, your face doesn't look that similar and as far as I know he was never married so it must be a coincidence.

Naruto snorted, "You know Ero-Sennin said I look like him too, which is kind of cool given how awesome he was. Anyways, yes you are right, there are nine of the bijuu and they are far from fictional though as far as I know most of them are sealed away right now, though very few people know where. Also, the adults do know something about it that we didn't as kids so your dad was lying to you to protect you in a way. You see there was a law put in effect by the Hokage that said no one was allowed to tell anyone about what actually happened to the Kyuubi."

Ino looked slightly affronted about her dad lying to her though she did figure that if the Hokage felt it needed to be secret it was slightly okay. Then she asked, "What do you mean by 'what actually happened' didn't the Yondaime defeat it?"

Naruto nodded, "Yes he defeated it so you don't have to worry about it attacking again, but what has never been explained was how he defeated it. As you probably know Chakra cannot be destroyed so the Bijuu cannot either, therefore they must be sealed as I mentioned earlier. The Fuinjutsu that the Yondaime used was an exceptionally powerful one that he used to seal the Kyuubi into a Jinchuuriki."

Ino looked confused now, "Power of the Human Sacrifice, what in the world does that mean? And why wouldn't they want to tell at least the Shinobi where it was held, they could have told us once we graduated."

Naruto snorted, "Well they did tell all the Shinobi and apparently all the adult villagers found out about it from someone but the reason they didn't tell you about it was because Jiji was afraid about our generations reaction to finding out it was sealed inside of a person and at the time it would be hard to explain that the kid it was in was not the Kyuubi without sitting down for a long conversation to explain fuinjutsu to them and even then most of the adults in the village were dead set against the kid so it was more than likely that they would not have been willing to do more than tell their kids to avoid the child, which they did anyways, they just couldn't explain why because of the law."

Ino looked horrified, "But that's not fair to the kid, why would anyone be so mean to a poor kid just because he had a demon sealed in him, I get why they wouldn't tell the kids, but surely the adults know better and even the non-Shinobi could have it explained to them, how hard would it be to tell them how the fuinjutsu works."

Ino went from confused to upset as she looked up and saw Naruto's happily amused face, "What the hell are you finding so funny we are discussing the horrible childhood of someone who is probably our age or a little older and you look amused."

She growled at him which caused Naruto to laugh lightly and comment, "It's not that, I am just glad you feel that way now even though you always ignored how he was treated when he was younger. Aw screw it, I don't really feel like telling you and we are here anyways, I will show you the memory for the night I found out who it was and let Jiji explain it to you."

As Naruto opened the door they were in front of and smiled fondly she saw him disappear inside the shadows and followed him in. She was slightly excited as she entered since this would be one of the first memories outside of her father's head that she was going to see since Choji and Shikamaru would only let her probe their minds for practice, not see any memories. As she entered she noticed as usual that she was an apparition floating around in the memory and she could see Naruto from what looked like just after graduation since he had his headband on. As she entered she also noticed a massive wave of emotions, some pride but mostly despair and horror and she wondered why her Jutsu was not filtering the emotions properly so she figured either this was extremely emotional for Naruto, which was possible given that he was always an emotional person, or she was messing up on the Jutsu.

She also noted absentmindedly that Naruto looked pretty banged up like he had just come from a fight and he was, Crying? Oh that was strange. She looked up and saw the old Naruto also looked slightly sad and figured he was getting the full blast of the emotions so it must be even worse for him. Before anything else could go through her mind she heard the small voice of Naruto croak out, "How could you Jiji? How could you lie to me? I have asked so many times why the villagers hate me and I find out from Mizuki-teme that I am the Kyuubi, no wonder everyone hates me, I would hate me too, I mean I dest-"

Suddenly Ino fell to her knees as she felt a massive wave of Killer Intent wash over her and saw the boy pale considerably as Sandaime-Sama stood suddenly and said, "NO! You are not the Kyuubi, you Naruto-kun are its container, nothing more. Iruka said he already told you as much, so why do you still think that. I know I lied to you Naruto-kun, but you must understand I was worried you would not be able to handle the news, I was planning to tell you the night you graduated but since you failed the exam again I hadn't gotten to it yet."

As the Killer Intent left the room Ino finally got up and looked over her friend who she now understood was the very Jinchuuriki he had been talking about and she felt overwhelming pity for him before that changed to self-loathing as she realized that she had always ignored him as a child and that if she really thought about it she had occasionally noticed that some of the adults were mean to him as a kid though she had barely paid it any thought. Before her thoughts could get any darker the young Naruto asked, "So I'm not the k-Kyuubi, but then why do they all hate me Jiji, why didn't you tell them that, they all call me a demon and hate me, shouldn't they know!"

At this point Naruto was somewhere between sobbing and shouting his emotions were so torn. Anger at being lied to, and at the villagers for treating him this way. Sorrow that this had happened to him and that he was condemned to live without friends because of this.

As Ino looked at the Sandaime she noted that she had never seen him look so broken, he sighed before saying, "Naruto-kun, I know this is hard, and I did try to explain it to the village, I think most of the Shinobi understand but many of them cannot see past their grief unfortunately and so they figure since they can't harm Kyuubi directly they can harm you. And with the villagers, while some understand, many prefer to feign ignorance because it helps them sleep better if they think they are abusing the Kyuubi instead of a child. Honestly Naruto-kun, I am sorry this wasn't what Minato intended when he sealed Kyuubi inside you, he was always the optimist and like I did at one time, he always chose to see the best in people, but unfortunately the village ignored his dying wish that you be seen as the protector of the village that held the beast back. I am sorry that I did not do more and I see now that I should have found a way to pay more attention to you so I could have noticed what those like Mizuki were doing to you since sadly one kind teacher is not enough to properly train you and so you wound up as the dead last of your group with almost no actual training."

Ino was shocked when she looked over at the small Naruto and felt the overwhelming acceptance and determination smothering what was left of his self-pity and anger. As he looked up he said, "Hey that's alright, nothing has really changed. I just know why they hate me now, and I will still prove to them all that I am worth something and that I am not the fox. I will take that hat from you Jiji and then they will have to respect me, 'tebayo!"

Hiruzen chuckled as he said, "I am sure you will Naruto-kun, though now that you are a Ninja for real I feel I need to tell you something, You don't gain respect because you are Hokage, you become Hokage because you have everyone's respect and trust."

Naruto looked thoughtful before he said, "I suppose that makes sense Jiji, but that just means I have to show them how awesome I am and then I can take that hat so you can finally retire."

Hiruzen smiled fondly as he said, "I cannot wait for that day to come Naruto-kun, and then I can sit back and laugh as you have to do all my paperwork."

Naruto looked horrified for a second before they both started laughing as Naruto chocked out, "Well then Jiji I will just have to come up with some way to do all that paperwork better and faster than you by the time I take your hat, I mean I have to be better than all of you, even you 'Professor-Jiji'."

As the scene ended and Ino found herself outside the room she was dealing with the roller-coaster of emotions that she had both felt and been subjected to from the memory. As she looked up she noticed that Naruto looked exceptionally serious. And she wondered what he was thinking.

As he reigned in his own emotions he said, "Well there you go, sorry you had to see me like that but it is what it is. I hope you understand now why this was so hard for me to tell you and I hope this doesn't change our friendship any, though I will understand if you feel differently about me now."

He looked sad as he said this so Ino smirked lightly as she said, "Of course this changes things Baka." As Naruto looked down in sorrow she finished, "You just earned my respect, anyone that can endure all of that crap and still turn out as sweet and kind as you, despite your annoying tendencies, must be a pretty awesome person. If any of our friends end up turning on you because of this then they will have to face the wrath of the Ino-Shika-Cho."

At this Naruto tilted his head, "What do you mean Ino, I haven't even told Choji yet and Shikamaru is too lazy to do anything about it. Plus I wouldn't want you to do anything like that, I would understand if any of you guys freaked out about it, I know I value my friendships a lot more than you guys value me. I've come to accept that."

Ino shouted, "Baka, first off we are in your mind so you are even worse of a liar than usual so I can tell you would be deeply wounded by us betraying you. And while I admit that we have not always been the best of friends I feel that most of us treasure your friendship more than you know, like I said earlier, almost no one is as kind hearted and caring as you are, especially towards your friends. Plus if you think Shika wouldn't do anything then you don't know him as well as you think, sure he might not do anything physically himself, but he would be the one to plan our vengeance then Choji and I would carry it out. Plus we are talking about Choji here, probably the only person who has you matched in the kindness department, he is the most empathetic person I know, he will defiantly be there for you Baka."

Naruto smiled again as he said, "Thanks Ino, you have no idea how much this means to me."

Ino laughed as she noticed her door in the distance and saw a paintbrush magically appear in front of it and suddenly her door was painted a much more vibrant purple and she nodded as she said, "Two more things, First since we are here can I see the Kyuubi, I assume he is in the sewer since you called it the prison, also I can't believe you called the Kyuubi a fuzzball. Second, who all Knows about this and is in the group that doesn't care like the Baka adults that hate you for it?"

Naruto scratched his head, "Well I have told Shikamaru and Shino obviously as well as Sakura-chan since Bachan told her. Tsunade-Bachan, Ero-Sennin, Kakashi-Sensei, Iruka-Sensei, and the Ichirakus all know as far as adults. Sasuke-teme figured it out when we last saw him because he used his Sharingan to enter my mind. Gaara and his siblings know since Gaara is or rather was the Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi. Oh and Yamato-taichou Knows and I assume Sai knew before he joined our team since he wasn't surprised about it later, though I am not entirely sure if he is capable of surprise." At this Naruto snickered. "That is all I think, why did you want to know?"

Ino smirked before shrugging, "I just wanted to know who all I could talk to about it since I clearly can't gossip about it like most juicy secrets I hear."

Naruto sighed, "Oh, of course. Anyways, if you really want to I can show you the Kyuubi. But beware he is really grouchy and If you get to close to the cage he will try to destroy you."

Ino snorted before saying, "I can imagine and even though that would do little more to me than dispel my intrusion and give me a headache I will stay back from his cage."

As they left the room the walls blurred again before they wound up in front of a giant cage and a pair of red eyes showed up behind the bars to glare out at them. "So my container deigns to visit me, and look you brought me one of the two harpies who like the red eyed freak, how quaint."

Naruto snorted, "It's nice to see you to, and be nice to Ino, and she is a guest here, unlike the Teme who forced his way into my head."

The Kyuubi snorted before responding, "I am under no compulsion to be nice to you or any of your pathetic friends, I myself am not a guest here and I care little for you or your kind. Though I reserve a special place in my hatred for the Sharingan users, especially Madara and that masked man who had the nerve to control me, and of course you're Yondaime for sealing me into you after I had just escaped. Anyways, be gone pitiful humans I do not feel like talking to you today Naruto, unless of course you want to set me free."

As the Kyuubi smirked evilly Naruto snorted, "Not likely if you have that attitude. If you could mellow out and not be hell bent on trashing the world I would be fine with letting you free, though there would have to be a way to remove you without killing me for that to work unfortunately. Anyways, it was nice talking to you Kyuubi, see you later."

As Naruto faded out Ino released her Jutsu and as she re-entered her body she bent over and started panting. "Oh my, that was much more taxing then I thought, Staying inside your head took a lot of effort especially when we were in the sewer, I suppose that seal on your stomach had something to do with that."

Naruto looked down before blushing, "I forgot I was shirtless, yeah that is my seal, it is the physical manifestation of the fox's prison."

Ino smirked as she tossed him the shirt, "See showing me your muscles isn't so bad, you forgot about it till I reminded you. And now I must be off, even if time in a mindscape is hugely faster than it is in the real world I probably still wasted most of my lunch break harassing you, I am off to the flower shop to gather more gossip I can actually share and to tell all the girls that you look sexy with your shirt off, though I need to come up with some way to say it that sounds more insulting to you. Bye Naruto."

Naruto scoffed as he put on his shirt and jacket before calling out, "Bye Ino, I'm so glad I can be so entertaining for you."

He rolled his eyes as she called back, "I know right."

As Naruto wondered off to the main part of town again he looked up and realized Ino was right, since most of that conversation had taken place in his head only a few minutes had actually passed and it was at most two in the afternoon. Naruto sighed as he realized that meant he still had some time to tell one more of his friends today. Though he realized as he sniffed the air that he should probably go home and shower first since he reeked from his training. So with that in mind he wondered home and thought about who he should tell next.

**Okay I have officially decided that Team Asuma has way to much screen/panel time in cannon compared to the rest of Naruto's friends, and infinitely more Fanfiction time than nearly everyone else in that group than maybe Hinata, and that is only really because of all the NaruHina Stories since she is often equally ignored in most of the fics that don't have that as a pairing. I spent much less of my time in this and the Shikamaru story questioning whether I was portraying them correctly, one quick read over their Narutopedia page and I was good, whereas Shino I kept falling back to it repeatedly to read his quotes and personality bit to double check.**

**Anyways with 6368 this is ten words over double my longest chapter (the one with Shikamaru) and for some reason this chapter just didn't want to stop having long descriptions and conversations. Sigh on with the writing of the next chapter, who to do next, hmm? Oh and before you leave Review dang it, I have to keep my review count above my favorite count, it just barely got back above that number, I wonder sometimes how you can put this story under your favorites (for me that is reserved only for the stories I really really liked). I mean come on, I have 10 Favorites and only two of those people have actually ever left a review *Grumble, Grumble* Oh well, I guess I used to be really bad about reviews in the past so I can't complain too much. **

**Oh and in case you were wondering, I chose Ino over Neji because I wanted to do a girl next and I was too afraid to do either Hinata or Tenten at this point. Bye guys see you next time.**


	6. Spar and Speak

**Ino: Welcome back to this wonderful story. I can't wait till I come back as I definitely improved your story by a ton just for appearing.**

**Turmanarmo: Oh hey there Ino, I wasn't quite ready yet but I suppose I can wrap up my authors note and introduce the chapter with you.**

**Ino: Yes, please do, no one actually wants to hear you talk, they are just glancing at your story in wait of their favorite characters having a scene. You really ought to just get Choji out of the way and maybe Hinata and you will have hit all the major favorites. You have Kakashi, though why anyone likes the perv is beyond me, and you have most of the Ino-Shika-Cho which is everyone's favorite team, and after that you need poor Hinata-chan to appease the NaruHina lovers out there though I suppose you could throw in Forehead at some point to appease the NaruSaku lovers as well.**

**Turmanarmo: Wow Ino, that's harsh, I know not everyone likes every character but I doubt people are reading this in patient wait for only that one scene with their favorite of his friends. Anyways get on with the disclaimer now that I have thanked all of the wonderfully YOUTHFUL reviewers, followers, and favoriters with this sentence. **

**Ino: Well that was strange, don't go taking after Lee-san, he is nice, but having two of Guy-Sensei is already pushing it. Anyways, this social recluse does not own the Naruto Manga/Anime or any of the characters within. He just enjoys playing god with their lives by making them act out his strange ideas.**

**Turmanarmo: Oh and before I forget, I plan to reread some of the content I have put up(probably going to focus on ch1&2) since it was pointed out that the writing wasn't the best at the beginning and it can't hurt to make a better introduction for drawing people in. Once that is done I will work on the next chapter, so once that comes out I will tell you which chapters I made changes too so you will be able to reread them if you want.**

As Naruto Headed back towards his apartment he realized that he had picked the furthest possible training field from the village and sighed as he continued walking. Suddenly he thought he felt a presence beside him and looked over to notice his sensei walking calmly beside him, though the strange thing was that he didn't have his *ahem* literature *ahem* out at the moment. Naruto tilted his head before asking, "Kakashi-sensei, what are you doing here and where is your porn?"

Kakashi glanced over as he responded sounding utterly bored, "I am hurt Naruto, can't I hang out with one of my cute students, though if you must know I suppose I am preparing to take one kunai for you so you can be hit with another. Oh and I don't have my book out because I don't feel like hearing about it from the aforementioned kunai."

Naruto rose his eyebrow as he responded, "Well I am glad you make as little sense as always sensei. Anyways, was there something you wanted to talk to me about since you apparently knew where to find me?"

Kakashi hummed before saying, "Nothing in particular though I am proud of how well you have been doing with telling your friends three out of nine already, that is a good start and soon it might be four."

Naruto stopped for a second as he turned, "Wait, have you been watching me?! Why in the world are you spying on me Kakashi-sensei, that's a bit creepy don't you think 'tebayo.

Kakashi turned a bit as he responded, "Hmm, did you say something."

Naruto huffed and figured he wouldn't get any straight answers from his sensei so he walked along in silence, as they entered the last training field before the village proper he heard someone training on it and promptly recognized the pair of green clad Shinobi. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Kakashi flinch ever so slightly and then sigh as he raised his hand before shouting out, "Yo! Guy, I am here for our weekly competition."

As Naruto wondered if his sensei was maybe on some drugs since he just willingly sought out Guy for a challenge he heard the response, "Ah my Hip Rival and his YOUTHFUL student. How nice to see you here today. I have been looking for you my rival for the last three days but have been unable to find any trace of you. But none of that matters since you have come to me. However I must regrettably decline this YOUTHFUL challenge since I am currently sparing with my own YOUTHFUL student."

Naruto swore he heard Kakashi sigh again before saying, "Mah. Mah. Guy, Naruto here would be more than happy to spar with your student in your place. I challenge you to a race around the village until one of us cannot run anymore."

The responses to this were many, Kakashi looked resigned, Guy looked impressed as he shouted about it being the most youthful challenge his Rival had ever chosen and then some nonsense about what he would do if he lost. Lee looked overjoyed at the prospect of an endurance race around the village and also excited that he would get to spar with his friend Naruto. Finally Naruto looked surprised that his teacher would willingly do something like this before he looked torn between thanks and weariness. Thanks that Kakashi was willing to do something like this to allow Naruto the time to talk alone with Lee, and weariness at knowing that he would have to tell a third person today without any time in-between the last two for him to do any thinking.

As Guy and Kakashi raced off to start their challenge Lee turned to Naruto and said, "Yosh Naruto-kun let us both show our power of youth and go all out in our spar. To be honest I have been waiting for this day since you came back and we went on that mission together. I want to know how far your youthful hard work has brought you and to know if I have yet passed my rival of hard work who managed to prove his value against my genius rival Neji."

Naruto smiled lightly as he considered that maybe this spar would give him the chance to get his thoughts in order before he smirked lightly. Naruto looked over at his pumped friend as he said, "Well if you want to go all out that is fine with me, I suggest taking off your leg weights then though I also suggest no lethal Jutsu on either of our parts, so no Rasengan from me and no Gates from you."

Lee looked excited at this, "Yosh, I agree to these most youthful terms."

Naruto nodded, "I don't know if it will necessarily make it more youthful but it will definitely remove some of the risk of one of us accidentally doing too much damage because we became overzealous. Also I want to add some of those failure rules you and Guy-sensei are so fond of. If I should lose this match then I will hold the conversation that Kakashi is clearly trying to force me into with you immediately afterwards. However if I should win you and I will simply train for the rest of the day and I will tell you tomorrow."

Lee looked slightly confused as he responded, "I am not sure what it is you wish to talk with me about, but know that I will be ready whenever you are my friend. Yosh let us commence this youthful spar at once."

With that the two of them walked to the center of the field where they made the seal of confrontation before bouncing back and dashing at each other. As they clashed a few times, fists and legs hitting blocks and being dodged Naruto grew excited as it had been a while since he had sparred with one of his friends, his short fight with Sasuke at Orochimaru's hideout did not count as a spar.

As he continued to try and push Lee onto the defensive he was forced to jump back as Lee shouted "Leaf Hurricane." Naruto jumped back in and redoubled his efforts before he was forced to dodge into the air after a well-choreographed set of punches followed by a leg sweep that would have left him off balance if he had tried any other form of dodge. Naruto grunted as he quickly performed a Kage Bunshin before spring boarding off his clone right into Lee who had jumped after Naruto intending to land a punch while he was vulnerable in the air.

As he slid back along the ground from the painful head-butt to the gut Lee stood up and smiled, "That was quick thinking my friend, I can see that your Taijutsu and skills with your clones has improved dramatically since I last observed you fight before your trip."

As they both jumped back into the fray, this time Lee took more advantage of his greater speed and was moving around at speeds Naruto could barely track. The longer it went on Naruto was beginning to feel the bruises sting on his arms and legs from so many high speed blocks before he was knocked back hard from a heavy hit to his blocking arms that sent him tumbling a few feet before he stood up.

Naruto grunted as he shook out his arms to restore some feeling back into them before grinning as he said, "You have improved a lot as well Bushy Brows. Those hits of yours sting quite a lot."

With that they jumped into the fray again with Lee once again taking advantage of his massive speed to circle Naruto and beat him from all sides, however this time Naruto was ready and he formed some Kage Bunshin to stand in a triangle with him and he replaced them the second they were dispelled so he could keep a constant watch on Lee, finally he found the pattern Lee was moving in and promptly reached out and grabbed Lee's next kick before spinning him around quickly and tossing him as hard as he could across the field.

As Lee stood up he asked, "How did you manage to catch me when I was moving at full speed?"

Naruto dispelled his clones before scratching the back of his head as he responded, "Well I created the Bunshin to allow me to last a bit longer this time so I could observe your movements a bit more and I noticed that you had fallen into a pattern of movement which I exploited. I may not always be the smartest or the best fighter but I do know that you must always learn from your defeats otherwise the next time may be fatal. Also you should avoid attacking in the same way twice with any one enemy otherwise they might catch on to your trick and it can be equally fatal."

Naruto nearly face faulted when he saw Lee pull out a notebook and begin scribbling his words down as he shouted, "Yosh, what youthful wisdom, I must write this down."

Once Lee had returned the book to his pouch they flew at each other once again, this time Lee started off with a Dynamic Entry. As Naruto was recovering from being forced back when the powerful kick connected with his blocking arms he suddenly found himself dodging as quickly as possible since his arms were now too numb to be of use for a short while. Naruto found himself suddenly laying on the ground thanks to a leg sweep from Lee.

Naruto grunted as he stood up again and started sorely rubbing his arms, "Note to self, do not block Dynamic Entry Dattebayo, only dodge if at all possible. Man that attack has some force behind it."

As soon as Naruto regained the feeling in his arms they rushed each other once again as Naruto summoned a dozen or so Kage Bunshin that suddenly fanned out. Lee fell into his stance as he was surrounded before swiftly going on the assault as he took down all of them leaving him in an empty clearing. Lee remembered Naruto's fight with Neji and swiftly jumped into the air before coming down on the head of the Naruto that had just come out of the ground to punch him. However to Lee's surprise that one puffed out as well before Lee suddenly found himself on the receiving end of a heel drop.

As lee stood up he was slightly woozy from the blow to the head as he staggered back into the fray. Naruto soon realized that do to the temporary wooziness Lee had fallen into a similar style to his drunken fist and try as he might he could not counter the (somehow) more random than him attacks. He soon found himself skidding across the ground before standing back up only to see Lee shaking his head and wondering aloud, "What happened?"

Naruto laughed merrily as he explained the results of the last two bouts and his 'woozy fist' before they once again set off. As the afternoon wore on bout after bout was fought with shouts of "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" and "Leaf Hurricane." After about two hours of their spar both of them stood across from each other panting heavily, "Well by my count that is 50 wins for each of us Bushy Brows *pant* how about one last bout to finish this off."

Lee nodded his approval as they rushed at each other once again and traded a series of blows. As the bouts had passed Lee's speed had slowed to something more manageable and Naruto's stamina and healing factor was all that was preventing his muscles from similarly slowing down. The match went on for a few minutes before they both flew back from a punch to the jaw and they lay sprawled out on the ground laughing.

Once they got their breathing back under control they stood and formed the seal of reconciliation before moving over to the trees to sit and cool off. Lee looked over and asked, "Hey Naruto-kun since we were tied all the way through and the last bout was a double knockout what are you going to do about whatever it is you need to talk with me about."

Naruto hummed as he leaned back and said, "Well I suppose I will tell you now since Kakashi did go to all the trouble of challenging Bushier Brows sensei just so we could talk. I suppose I should start this off by asking, since you cannot use Chakra for anything more than internal things, do you know anything about Chakra Preservation?"

Lee nodded as he replied, "Yes, Guy-sensei felt that I should still understand how Chakra works even though I cannot use it in the traditional methods through Jutsu. However he has me use my chakra to do things like tree and water walking as well as use it to reinforce my body during combat so that I do not damage as easily and since I do not have to use it for Jutsu that means I can do this for the whole fight most times. Because of this Guy-sensei explained to me that by using my Chakra as an alternate fuel source for my muscles it allows me to keep using them long after most traditional fuel sources run out though since I am converting it into another energy I cannot get it back until I rest."

Naruto nodded and thought about how he might be able to use this as well given his reserves but decided to worry about that at a later time. "Correct Bushy Brows, now keeping that in mind for later, what do you know about the Yondaime."

Lee looked slightly confused by the change in subject before he responded excitedly, "Outside of his amazing abilities with Fuinjutsu and his famed use of the Hiraishin I most respect him for his speed. From what I know he was the fastest Shinobi to ever live and when he combined his natural abilities with his Shunshin and Hiraishin he could outpace any other user of such speed enhancing techniques. I train hard to try and match even a fraction of his speed as from what Guy-sensei tells me, he often won battles with the use of only his Taijutsu, his Rasengan, and the Hiraishin. To be able to do all that he did while relying mainly on his speed is really admirable."

Naruto grinned, "Yeah that is why he is my favorite Hokage, from what I know he is considered to be one of the strongest Hokage we have ever had, possibly on par with the Shodai. And on top of all of that, unless you were his enemy Jiji says he was a really nice guy." _Even if he did seal Kyuubi in me_.

Naruto looked back at Lee as he said, "Anyways, During the Kyuubi attack 15 years ago the Yondaime was the one to defeat the Kyuubi as you know. However as we mentioned earlier Chakra cannot be destroyed so the Yondaime used his skills in Fuinjutsu to seal the Kyuubi into a child on that night."

Lee's eyes widened as he considered the implications of this before saying, "Wow! That must have been one amazing seal. From what Tenten tells me from her dabbling with Storage scrolls, to seal anything of great size or anything that is not inanimate requires not only a very complex knowledge but also insane Chakra control. However, to do both at once, that is simply astounding, no wonder he is considered a once in a lifetime genius. I must wonder though Naruto-kun, why are you telling me all of this."

Naruto smiled lightly as he pulled up his shirt and channeled some chakra, "Well Bushy Brows, it is because I am that child. As you can see your assessment was correct, the seal on my abdomen is crazy complex, I tried drawing it once but noticing all those tiny details from the odd angle I can see it at is a bit difficult. Maybe if Sai and I can ever get on better terms I can get him to draw it for me since he is an artist. Anyways, as you know the Yondaime died fighting the Kyuubi and from what Jiji tells me he died due to the Fuinjutsu he used to seal it so you are also right about how difficult it must have been to do, especially while fighting Kyuubi."

Lee nodded before he decided to ask a question, "Hey Naruto-kun, is that why all of the villagers seem so indifferent to you. I don't know how it was before since I never knew you until the Chuunin exams, but I have noticed that most people who are not your friends seem at best indifferent to you. As a fellow Orphan I know how villagers normally treat us and so I was always slightly confused when I noticed that none of them seemed to look at you with any pity like they do the rest of us."

Naruto snorted, "Yeah, indifferent is probably the best way of saying it. Nowadays they are content to ignore my existence whenever possible though it wasn't always this nice. When I was young they were much meaner, none of them ever attacked me directly as far as I remember but I do remember getting thrown out of stores and sold rotten food or used supplies for way more than they were worth for quite some time till Jiji found out and would send an Anbu with me to buy stuff. It was usually Dog who was sent with me until shortly after I turned eight. Come to think of it that was just after the Uchiha Massacre when I stopped seeing dog."

Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Anyways, the next Anbu wasn't near as nice as Dog and so I lied to Jiji and claimed that I didn't need the Anbu to buy me stuff anymore and so I went back to the way things were because I didn't want Jiji to have to waste any of his Anbu just to buy me stuff."

As Naruto looked over he noticed the Lee was crying in his usual way as he wailed, "Naruto-kun your flames of Youth are truly astounding. I know very few who have the determination to continue being as amazing as you after going through so much pain."

Naruto huffed even though there was a smile on his face, "Honestly Bushy Brows, you don't have to get so worked up about it, and anyways sure it was lonely and hard but my life was nothing compared to Gaara's. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be informed that early that I was some sort of demon, since they honestly had Gaara believing that by the end, and to have to deal with Jiji trying to have me killed because he thought I was a failure. Oh and in case you hadn't already made the connection, yes Gaara is like me, he is the Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi."

Lee looked wide eyed for a second before breaking down again, "To think that Suna's Villagers are just as Unyouthful as Konoha's. And to not even believe in his own son, the Kazekage was also a very unyouthful man. Imagine what it would have been like if you had not ignited Gaara-san's heart with your Youthful Will of Fire."

Naruto shuddered, "Very bad Bushy Brows, it would have been very bad. Anyways I am just glad that Gaara has managed to turn his life around, even if I am slightly jealous that he beat me to my goal of being acknowledged and becoming a Kage. I just need to redouble my efforts so I can get there to 'tebayo"

Lee looked thoughtful for a second before asking, "Hey Naruto-kun. What is it that fuels your Will of Fire to be so youthfully bright despite all that has happened to you?"

Naruto looked up and answered, "Well that is easy, it is all of my precious people. The Will of Fire is the need to protect that which is precious to you. For me, in addition to this village, which I hope to protect one day as its Kage, that is all of my friends, the members and sensei of Teams Guy, Kurenai, Asuma, Kakashi, and I suppose even team Ebisu. Of course Tsunade-Bachan the Ichirakus and Shizune-neechan, as well as Sandaime-Jiji is in my heart too even if I can't protect him."

Lee stared at his friend who had adopted a thoughtful face with a warm smile on his lips before they were both interrupted by Guy arriving on scene with an equally tired Kakashi though he somehow still found the ability to be very loud as he shouted, "Yosh, your flames of youth burned brightly today my rival, I have not seen you so passionate about one of our challenges in years. Tell me Kakashi, what is it that kept you running long after you grew tired and even long after I could no longer match your pace. I only continued to follow you from a distance because I could not stop watching you as you were filled with so much YOUTH!"

Kakashi looked over to his precious student before giving him a look that clearly said "HELP ME PLEASE!"

Naruto looked over at Lee before saying, "Well anyways Bushy Brows and Bushier Brows Sensei, I had a lot of fun sparring today but I think I should take Kakashi-sensei home before he passes out from exhaustion."

As the two of them shouted their goodbyes Naruto slung Kakashi's arm around his shoulder and helped him walk off the field. Soon Naruto looked over at his sensei and said, "Sorry you had to do all that for me sensei, though it was good luck that you managed to hold out until Lee and I were done sparring and talking."

Kakashi managed to get his breathing back under control as he said, "It wasn't good luck, I had a shadow clone watching you two so I would know when I could stop running. By the way, do you even know where my apartment is Naruto?"

Naruto looked over at his Sensei with a mock glare, "Spying on me again Kakashi-sensei, for shame," before he broke out in a grin as he said, "Not a clue sensei, just figured I would head towards the village and you could tell me where you want to go, so where are we headed, food, apartment, other?"

Kakashi laughed lightly at Naruto's antics before he said, "Well I don't know about you but I am quite hungry though if I had more strength right now I would prefer to cook myself."

Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Well it is no Ramen but as long as you have the Ingredients I can cook for you."

Kakashi looked over before eye smiling™ as he said, "I thought you only ever ate Ramen, either from Ichiraku or the cup kind. Although I almost forgot that I did teach you how to cook."

Naruto snorted and said, "Kakashi-sensei, I only eat ramen as a treat or if I am out with friends, I know how important having other foods is, I just couldn't afford anything other than cup ramen for a while that's all."

A few seconds later Kakashi found himself stumbling as Naruto pulled away from him to point an accusing figure at him, "Hey you didn't teach me how to cook, Jiraiya tried on our travels but he was surprised I already knew how. It was dog who … taught … me … how."

Dead silence prevailed as Kakashi chuckled lightly as he swore he saw steam role out Naruto's ears as he processed this new information before cringing as he said, "Holy crap your dog! Why didn't you ever tell me you were the one Jiji assigned to accompany me to the store once a month as a kid?"

Kakashi responded, "Well technically my Anbu codename is supposed to be a secret. And if you must know I was also the one who reported the way the stores were treating you to Hokage-sama since I would always volunteer for your Anbu guard whenever I wasn't away on assigned Anbu business and every team had to take at least one week with you on a continuous cycle of the Anbu that he trusted most."

Naruto sputtered, "I had an Anbu guard! But why, and why would you volunteer for that."

Kakashi eye smiled™ at him again as they once again continued there walk towards town while Kakashi subtly directed Naruto towards his apartment, "Well to answer your questions, the first answer is twofold. It is partially due to the fact that you are the Jinchuuriki of Kyuubi which could make you a target if any village found out who you were since you were still young and couldn't defend yourself. Also, it was because early on we realized that you were not being treated well at the Orphanage and so Sarutobi-sama had you moved to an apartment while you were still too young to take care of yourself and until you were old enough to we were the ones taking care of you. Then once you became old enough to learn to do so on your own I volunteered to teach you how to live by yourself. Plus as an added bonus if the villagers ever seemed like they might try anything physically violent one of us would show ourselves to keep them in line."

Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment before answering, "Oh, I guess that makes sense, I just wish I would have noticed sooner. And you still didn't answer why you would volunteer for my watch."

Kakashi sighed, "Honestly Naruto did you think you would notice the Hokage's elite shadow operatives unless we wanted to be noticed. And as to why I volunteered, I suppose it was because I felt like I should try and protect you since my sensei was you- I mean was the one who chose you as the Jinchuuriki."

Naruto froze for a second as he turned to look at his sensei, "Y-your s-sensei was the Y-Yondaime? Why didn't you ever tell me that either! Say Kakashi-sensei, Jiji and Ero-sennin never gave me a straight answer when I asked, but do you know why he chose me. I mean there are tons of orphans in the village, I get that asking a parent to sacrifice their child would be hard so an orphan makes sense. But was I just chosen at random or just because I was conveniently born on the day of the attack."

Kakashi cringed slightly at the accusing tone in Naruto's voice, "Well to be honest on the night of the attack all of the young Shinobi were ordered to stay away from the fights so I wasn't around when Sensei sealed Kyuubi, but knowing him I am sure he had a good reason for picking you out of everyone else." _Especially since you were his son._

Naruto nodded as he continued on his way taking occasional directions from Kakashi as he said, "Thanks sensei, even if you don't know the whole reason, what you do know still means a lot."

Kakashi cringed again and they remained silent until they arrived at Kakashi's apartment, which much to Naruto's surprise was just down the street from his. As they entered the house Kakashi limped over to his couch before Naruto ran to the kitchen to see what Kakashi had to cook with. He noticed that Kakashi had all of the ingredients for Miso soup and since that was one of his favorite flavors of Ramen he decided to fix that for his sensei.

When he brought out the completed meal he set it on the table seeing his sensei sitting there reading his book. Kakashi looked up and said, "Well this certainly smells good and how did you know miso soup was my favorite, oh and there are even vegetables with it, how nice of you."

Naruto huffed as he said, "I didn't know it was your favorite, I made it because you had the ingredients for it and I like miso ramen so it sounded good. Plus just because I don't particularly like vegetables doesn't mean I don't eat them."

Kakashi chuckled as he responded, "Well look at how far my cute little student has come from the kid who used to complain about eating his veggies."

Naruto began pouting and crossed his arms as he said, "Well what can I say, once my growth spurt started shortly after Ero-sennin started forcing me to eat vegetables in addition to having me eat more than just ramen again I realized that they were worth it 'tebayo. And anyways Kakashi-sensei, why do you have to be so mean, I just wanted to thank you for helping me out today and for keeping an eye on me even if it does seem like spying more than anything."

Kakashi laughed and said, "Sorry Naruto, it was really nice of you to take me home and cook diner, and helping you out is the least I can do to make up for how bad of a sensei I was to you when you joined my team."

Naruto snorted as he said, "Sure you weren't the greatest teacher when it came to teaching me cool Jutsu, though Ero-Sennin wasn't much better since I only learned Rasengan and summoning from him. But in reality you taught me my most important lesson, to never abandon my friends and to defend them with everything I've got. Not only did you tell us with that saying of yours about trash, but you showed us in how you acted when we were on missions."

Kakashi sighed as he said, "You would say 'only' when referring to getting a summoning contract as powerful as the toads and learning Sensei's Rasengan. And as to the teacher bit, while I did tell you about that, I have done a pretty horrible job with it since I abandoned you for Sasuke during the Chuunin exams and I barely taught you guys anything for the time we were together before that besides tree climbing."

Naruto grinned as he laughed out, "Whatever sensei that was in the past, you need to look to the future, if you are bothered so much by something you did or didn't do in the past make up for it now. For instance, after you showed me the error of my ways I have come to regret not trusting my friends more but now I am making up for it by working hard to share my secret with them all so that I can continue to grow our bonds."

Kakashi sighed as he responded, "You never cease to amaze me Naruto, most unpredictable ninja indeed. Anyways thanks for joining me for diner and talking but you should really get home and sleep if you want do anything tomorrow morning."

Once Naruto left the house Kakashi got up and went to bed as he thought about how far his student had come. And if he had done this much with as little help as he had been provided before, imagine what he could do if someone actually put forth some more effort. _Okay Sensei, thanks for leaving Naruto for us. Of all the wise things said by so many I think what he said has meant the most, I have been wasting my life that so many have died to protect, but not anymore. After he is done with this ordeal I think I may help Naruto work on finishing your Jutsu Sensei._

**Okay, first off, writing the chapter was a (Insert bad word here :P ). I knew that I wanted to include a spar but for some annoying reason none of my early ideas for the spar and conversation worked out. At first my idea was to have them play some sort of a game where they either talked or asked questions between bouts but every time I tried to write, it came out stilted and felt awkward. I also toyed with the idea of having them 'talk with their fists' like Sasuke and Killer Bee seem to be able to do with Naruto, but I couldn't think of a way to make that work either. So in the end I decided to just have them talk afterwards.**

**I know the actual conversation part with Lee is kind of short comparatively, but I feel like Lee is a very straightforward person and for a few moments I even toyed with the idea of Naruto just saying it and explaining the rest through questions Lee came up with. In the end I settled on this and I decided to flesh out there time with the bit about Naruto's Will of Fire and then the scene with Kakashi since he hasn't been visible since Ch3.**

**Woot 5332 words, which is only 1000 words short of the last one so I feel pretty good about its length. Hopefully you guys liked this again and as usual for those of you who do review, please continue to do so, I value your input and it also helps to know you guys are enjoying it. Though in all honesty I am still shocked I have somehow managed to avoid a flame or something like that *Knock on wood*.**

**Oh and before I forget to mention it WTF was with the last chapter of Naruto (674) It started out all cool, though I am not sure what to think of the strange teleporting ability Sasuke has now. But then it has to end with Madara performing Instant Eye Transplant no Jutsu again (poor Kakashi). Seriously, Organs as complex as a human eye (not to mention the Sharingan/Rinnegan) should not be plug and play. *Huff* Okay, done with that for now. Bye.**


	7. The Blunt Breakfast

**Turmanarmo: Well another chapter down, that took way longer than I expected. My silly brain decided it wanted to play ADD child for the last few days.**

**Sasuke: Well if you wouldn't write such drivel about the dobe maybe you would find it worthy of focusing on. But then again I have never really found many people who understand what it is like to focus everything in their lives on a task.**

**Turmanarmo: *Snort* yeah not all of us can be revenge obsessed wackos who are easily manipulated by every person they meet that promises them some sort of power. Anyways, I only called you here so you could do the disclaimer and so I could say I had actually used all of the non-leader members of team 7, even if I strongly dislike what you have become.**

**Sasuke: *glare* I am above such ties to my pathetic team and I am not easily manipulated, I am the one using these fools so that I can gain power, I have no intent of letting them use for anything that doesn't give me further strength or further my goals of revenge. Regardless, this simpleton does not own the dobe or the pitiful story that for some reason centers around him. I honestly could care less if you support the official release since I don't particularly care about any of those people and a story about Naruto would be mind numbingly horrible.**

**Turmanarmo: Anywho, yes I did put up a changed version of Ch 1&2 like I said last chapter but not much was changed other than some grammar and consistency issues, the argument in ch1 was extended slightly but overall not much different. Also thanks again for all of you that favorite, follow, and review.**

Naruto was sitting with his friends talking jovially about all sorts of random things. He had decided to take the day off to talk with the ones he had told already to see how they were dealing with it.

Everything seemed to be going fine when they suddenly started discussing what they had heard from Naruto. Shikamaru pointed out, "When I was talking to you last time you mentioned how the Kyuubi would try to take you over if you used its power so I decided to figure out what exactly that meant. While talking with your team, Sakura told me how you had attacked her during the last mission. She said she was afraid of you now because of it. Why wouldn't you tell us that you were so dangerous, that seems like pretty important information considering how much trust you expect us to have in you?"

The others nodded in agreement as Naruto stuttered out, "I know I hurt Sakura-chan but that is why I promised that I wouldn't use the Kyuubi's power any more so I don't have to worry about hurting my friends 'tebayo."

Shino stated, "Yes but you also told us that you could unintentionally call on its Chakra if you are severely injured or emotionally unstable and we all know how easy you become emotional."

Naruto again looked downtrodden as he said, "Yeah, but I am working on controlling my emotions more so that I don't have to worry about that, and even if I am upset I can still usually keep control as long as I consciously prevent him from giving me chakra."

Lee butted in next saying, "Yes but if you could not even recognize Sakura-chan, the one who you profess to love while in this mode how much more likely will you be to unyouthfully attack us if such a thing happens again for some reason."

Ino also pointed out, "Yeah, even if you are working on holding your emotions, we all know how easy it is to taunt you and rile you up in battle so what happens if the Kyuubi takes advantage of that or you having low chakra to take control again, what then."

At this all of his friends stood up and left saying, "Bye Naruto, honestly we just can't trust you to be in control of the demon inside of you at all times. It is best for everyone if you just stay away from us so that we aren't in danger."

As they left Naruto fell to his knees and began openly crying as the pain and loneliness of his childhood seemed to be returning. At this the Kyuubi began whispering in his mind about how much better it would be if he just let go and gave in. Suddenly Naruto couldn't control his body anymore and he watched from a detached point as his body suddenly stood up and nodded his consent as the Kyuubi took control and he suddenly saw himself slaughtering all of his precious people and the villagers.

At this Naruto bolted up in his bed panting as he realized he had just had a rather horrible nightmare likely brought on by some of his lingering anxiety over telling his friends. Needless to say this dream had disturbed him greatly and he wasn't sure how he felt about it quite yet.

Unfortunately for him he suddenly heard someone knocking on his door and so he shuffled over there to open it shouting, "Just a moment." When he got to the door he paused since he was only wearing his boxers and a shirt and the last time he had opened his door in this state when Sakura had come to get him he had wound up getting scolded for not at least wearing pants. So to save himself from a possible aching head he decided to glance through the spy hole and saw Choji standing outside his door.

As he opened the door he decided to ask, "Hey Choji, what brings you by?"

Choji shrugged as he responded, "Well I saw Ino and Shikamaru talking yesterday at the flower shop and when I asked what they were talking about they told me it was a secret and I should talk to you about it. Since you weren't here when I came by yesterday I assumed you were busy so I decided to get an early start today and try and get here before you left. Oh and I brought breakfast since it is so early."

Naruto glanced around and sure enough Choji had two rather large containers in his hands that likely contained some food so he ushered his friend inside and headed to his small table. As they walked Choji overheard him grumble something about 'annoying friends that talk too much' but he dismissed it as Naruto being grumpy that he had just woken up.

Once they had sat down and the food had been passed out they both dug in, Naruto commented on how good the food was to which Choji responded, "Thanks, my mom was the one who made it, I told her I needed to go talk to a friend as soon as I got up so she prepared some food so that we wouldn't have to go hungry. Anyways, I am interested in what could be so interesting that even Shikamaru was talking about it, I am not normally one for gossip but since both my teammates were talking about it and they told me to come talk to you I assume it must be a pretty big secret you have to tell."

Naruto laughed nervously as he said, "Well yeah it is, but can we finish eating before we talk."

Choji nodded before they both dug back into the food and finished it up before Choji moved to the couch and began munching on a bag of chips as Naruto ran off to his room to grab some pants to wear.

When Naruto came back he looked slightly nervous as he asked, "Hey Choji, when you saw them talking about me how would you say they looked."

Choji appeared thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Well I would say they seemed concerned and a bit upset but it was hard to tell. The only thing I heard was Shikamaru say something about Ignorant villagers before Ino shushed him when she saw me.

Naruto wasn't sure how to take this but hoped it meant well before Choji also said, "Oh and Shikamaru also told me I should give you this message, he wants to talk to you again after everyone has been told and something about not being a baka and worrying about how we will react."

Naruto looked up before he burst out laughing since he couldn't believe what he was hearing, Shikamaru always was too perceptive for his own good. Once he calmed down Naruto said, "Okay I was kind of figuring everyone might have a few more questions once everything settled in and Ino never did directly respond to having met the Fuzzball face to face so you can tell Shikamaru thanks for me. Now I just need to figure out how to tell you about this."

Choji tilted his head as he responded, "Sure I will tell Shikamaru later but the more you talk about this secret of yours the more confused I get, what could be so scary that you can't just come out and say it?"

Naruto hummed and sat thinking for a second before Choji heard him mutter, "Yeah that would go over real great with no explanation, what would I say, 'hey guys, fun fact about myself, I have a multi-story demon sealed in my gut, how about you?'"

Naruto glanced up when he suddenly heard choking and then silence from his friend. When he saw Choji's shocked face he asked, "What?"

After several moments of awkward silence while Choji processed what he had just heard he coughed slightly before saying, "Well maybe you were right, you definitely shouldn't be that blunt."

Choji almost laughed when he saw Naruto's face morph from confused to terrified as he stuttered out, "P-please tell me I d-didn't say t-that out loud Dattebayo."

Choji looked concerned as his friend suddenly seemed to shut down and started muttering nonsensical things about dreams and loneliness. Suddenly he decided that the best way to deal with this situation was to ignore his own confusion and just act like nothing big had just happened so he began eating his chips again and slapped Naruto on the back as he said, "Hey Naruto, I know you didn't mean to say that but I feel like you shouldn't be a stuttering mess, it doesn't suit you."

Naruto looked confused for a second before he glanced at his friend's sincere smile and burst out laughing. Soon he brought himself back under control as he said, "Okay, sorry about that, it was just so hilarious how well you took that even if you were partially acting. The only thing that could have made it funnier would be if you had just been like, Oh, that's neat, want a chip?"

At this Naruto devolved back into his mad laughter as Choji chuckled along thinking about how weird it would have been to do just that, though he figured someone like Shikamaru might be more likely to be so nonchalant about something this big.

Once the two of them got back under control they sat there in silence for a short bit before Choji said, "Now that that is out of the way lets continue this backwards reveal, I would really love some context, like why and how you have a demon in your gut? Is this like an Aburame thing where they offer their kids up as hives for insects in exchange for the use of them as weapons?"

Naruto looked thoughtful as he said "Well that would sure be an interesting reason for this, though I am not sure what you would offer an ultra-powerful demon in exchange for giving the kid his power. 'Hey mister all powerful bijuu if you will inhabit my kid and give him super powers you can eat his soul or something.' Somehow I don't think that would go over very well for either party. No the reason I have a demon in me was because the Yondaime needed somewhere to put it to protect the village and he chose me."

Choji snorted at the line about eating the kid's soul as he realized how silly his comparison sounded now before he responded, "Okay that makes sense I guess but weren't you born on the same day the Yondaime died fighting the Kyuubi?"

Naruto smirked slightly as he said, "Yeah." And proceeded to sit there and see how long it would take Choji to work it out from there.

Choji sat confused for a second wondering why his friend was smirking and didn't elaborate before he thought about what he said, _Okay the Yondaime was fighting the Kyuubi on Naruto's birth and he died defeating it so when did he have time to seal a demon … inside … Naruto. _"Oh. I see. The Yondaime died sealing the Kyuubi into you."

Naruto nodded as he said, "Yeah, apparently since the Kyuubi is made out of pure Chakra he can't be destroyed so the Yondaime decided to seal him in a Jinchuuriki with some super powerful but deadly seal that used up all of his energy. Unfortunately to further distance this from the beneficial relationship the Aburame have with their insects my 'tenant' despises me since I am his jailor and he only helps me unwillingly or if he can gain something from it."

Naruto looked thoughtful as he continued, "For instance he heals me faster than usual since he would be dispelled for a while if I died and his chakra boosts my reserves since the seal is designed to slowly leach his chakra to grow mine though he replenishes his faster than the seal eats it I think. Also I can call upon more of his chakra if I need to but that unfortunately allows him more control over how I use it and his consciousness comes with it."

Naruto grimaced as he pointed out, "The more I pull the more he gains control and as he gains control he amplifies my anger and uses that to gain even more control. Due to this annoying feature I have stopped using his Chakra as much as I can because I don't want to risk hurting one of my friends."

Choji looked thoughtful before he responded, "Well that works. Though the more I think about it, the more everything makes sense."

Naruto gave Choji a quizzical look as he responded with a, "Huh?"

Choji laughed slightly as he said, "Oh sorry, I was just thinking about how this explains a lot of my questions I always had about you. You have to understand, since I was always bullied as a kid for being 'fat' I would often notice when others were bullied and so I naturally noticed you. For some reason you were bullied by everyone, both kids and adults. Kids bullied you because they thought you were a failure but the adults seemed unwilling to stop it, except Iruka-sensei."

Choji's expression grew grim as he said, "And then whenever you were around some of the other adults you often would receive glares from them like you were doing something wrong just by being around. None of that ever made sense to me but when I asked Shikamaru about it he said he had thought about it but decided it was to troublesome to figure out what was wrong with the idiotic adults. Later when I asked my dad he seemed slightly sad before he told me that there wasn't anything I could do except don't be like everyone else who bullied you."

Choji looked apologetic as he continued, "At the time I considered trying to become your friend but due to my fear of being picked on even more if I was friends with the kid everyone seemed to dislike I only suggested to Shikamaru that we could be nice to you but never really did anything besides not actively harass you."

Naruto looked contemplative as he said, "Oh I had never realized until I started these conversations that any of you would have noticed that, but pretty much everyone I have told noticed it at least a little. And even though you didn't try to befriend me at the time I am glad you are my friend now Choji. I know you meant well with what you did at the time and honestly it was a lot more than most were willing to do so thank you."

Naruto laughed lightly as he also pointed out, "I have to take some of the fault for that as well since I never really actively tried to seek out a friendship with you or Shikamaru despite the fact the fact that I noticed how you guys were some of the very few who didn't actively hate me. At the time I think I had a similar mindset to you since I may have avoided you guys so I wouldn't have more reasons to be made fun of. Also I seemed to focus most of my friend making efforts on the popular kids for a while and once I realized that they would never accept me I spent most of my time trying to best the Teme since I figured if I could be better than him then everyone would have to respect me."

Naruto sighed, "After a while I just came to accept that I couldn't make friends and that my only friends would be Iruka-sensei, the Ichirakus, and Sandaime-Jiji. Of course that didn't stop me from wanting attention, I just shifted to an even more pranksterish method of getting it by upping the ante on my pranks. This also had the bonus of getting me more attention from both Jiji and Iruka-sensei directly which I craved more than anything but being in the positions they were they didn't always have time for me so I made them have time."

Naruto shook his head before continuing, "Though that changed once I got my team and developed a relationship with them and then during and after the Chuunin exams I grew closer to all of you guys since you got to know the real me from spending so much time with me on missions and such. Oh well, that is all in the past now and I suppose I should just be thankful that you guys are all so awesome now, even knowing about my burden."

They sat in a companionable silence for a short time before Choji decided to ask, "Hey Naruto, so what is it like having Kyuubi living inside you, outside of how the villagers treat you I mean. Does he talk to you very much and what is he like?"

Naruto's face scrunched up in thought before he said, "Well he doesn't actively seek me out for conversation or anything, I honestly never even spoke with him until the first time I entered my mindscape during the month of training before the final stage of the Chuunin exams. Since then I have only honestly talked with him a handful of times and they usually do not end without some sort of argument."

Naruto hummed before continuing, "The only times we really talk to each other is when I am trying to use more of his power than normal or when he senses I am in danger and gives me more power to save me. There have been a few times where I just went there for the heck of it like when I took Ino to show her but he almost always threatens to kill me and tries to convince me to remove the seal or something along those lines and I usually respond by calling him names or just yelling at him. Recently he has been a bit quitter but that may be due to the fact that I am actively refusing his help now since I don't like how he can control me when I use too much power."

Naruto snorted lightly as he pointed out, "Though when I think about it I am not particularly surprised that he is grumpy all the time. I mean I wouldn't be too happy if I had to spend 15 years in a cage that looks like a sewer while lying in water. I wonder what he does for fun besides imagining what he will do once he is free or imagining what he would do to me if he could escape."

As Naruto shuddered at that last thought Choji stated, "Well that makes sense I guess. I don't think even Shikamaru would enjoy that much free time, even if the place were a green hill with clouds overhead."

At this they both snorted before laughing lightly as they thought about Shikamaru actually wanting something to do other than laze around due to sheer boredom. Needless to say it was a very humorous idea.

Once they were done laughing Choji stood up before saying, "Well it was nice to talk with you about all of this but I really ought to be going and I should also pass on your message to Shikamaru before I forget. He should be on his hill at this hour trying to avoid any chores his mother might assign since he has time off."

At this Naruto snickered before saying, "Yeah. That sounds about right. Well thanks for coming over Choji, it was nice to see you and like I said earlier, I really am glad that you are one of my friends. Bye."

Once Choji left the house Naruto looked up and thought about that strange conversation he had just had. Despite everything talking with Choji had helped to even further alleviate his fears and the message from Shikamaru had felt almost like it was designed to counter the dream he had just experienced. He really wondered sometimes with Shikamaru, he was normally too lazy to read that far into the situation, so saying something and telling Choji to pass it on really showed how much he felt about this.

Naruto soon realized it was once again late morning and he had to decide who he was going to talk to next, he now only had four friends remaining to tell and he wasn't quite sure who to see next. He could go with Kiba or Tenten since they would react more normally, though he could choose Hinata since she will be one of the harder ones he has to do based on the way she normally reacts around him. Then of course there is always Neji who could definitely relate to having a seal placed on you that affected your life without your permission.

As Naruto got up and left his house he decided he knew who to tell next, he just needed to figure out where they would be at this time of day. So with that in mind he headed into the village and decided to head for the business district to start his search.

**Well that chapter was strange to write. I have known since the day after I posted the last one the general idea I wanted to write this one in, but for some reason since that day I have had little motivation to actually sit down and write the thing out. And even though it strayed very little from the original idea I would rewrite many of the lines almost every time I sat back down to continue and thus made little progress. Then suddenly I felt like writing again tonight and couldn't sleep until I finished it. Ah well my brain is strange sometimes, hopefully my constant rewriting of the same lines didn't affect it too much.**

**Anywho with 3557 it is back to the lengths of the first two reveals, seems only Ino was able to pull out the super long chapter. Oh well. Hope you guys like it, and please review, my favorite count has caught back up to my review count, both being at 21. That still seems so strange to me but oh well, such is life.**


	8. Six out of Tenten

**Turmanarmo: Welcome to another chapter of Secret Inside Me sorry again for the delayed posting but hopefully this one turned out well.**

**Choji: Yeah, it's nice to see this up again, I hope whoever he tells this time is understanding, *munch munch***

**Turmanarmo: Yeah, you will just have to wait and see though Choji, but anywho, thanks to all of you awesome people who review/favorite/follow and without further ado, on with the disclaimer.**

**Choji: *puts away chip bag* Thanks for coming, I hope you enjoy this story even if it isn't part of the official release, which you should support by the way. I hope you all brought snacks because reading while snacking is the best way to read. *Pulls out bag of chips before smiling and proffering bag* Chip?**

As Naruto walked down the streets of the business district of Konoha he couldn't help but notice how everyone around him was for the most part trying to ignore him. He snorted to himself thinking about how that was their way of coping with the fact that the child they had hated all those years had actually become something in the village. He snorted again thinking about how weird it must have been in Suna once Gaara came back from the Chuunin exams and stopped killing people for no reason. Everyone in the village must have been confused and suspicious for quite some time.

Naruto kept walking as he considered the fact that the villagers opinion of him seemed to matter less than usual. Sure he rarely cared what they thought anymore, but that didn't mean he wasn't affected by it. However, since he started to tell his friends and realize that they would not abandon him his need for the villager's approval was waning. Sure he would always want to eventually turn them around, but now it just seemed so much less important when he had the approval of so many precious people.

As he approached the Shinobi portion of the shopping area he began looking in various windows to see if he could find his friend, plus window shopping was so much fun. He continued to wander around and noticed the various groups moving about, young academy kids with their parents going to buy supplies, what looked like Genin and Chuunin going to stock up on ninja tools. Interestingly enough there were not a lot of Jonin or Anbu that he could see, though maybe they had their own area to resupply, he wasn't sure.

By the time he had gone through the area three times some people were beginning to look at him strange and so he decided to give up looking for his friend in this area and headed away. However, as he was leaving the area he suddenly jumped in fright when someone appeared behind him and said, "Hey Naruto!"

When Naruto turned around he was greeted with a chuckling Tenten who seemed very proud of the fact that she had managed to freak out her friend. As Naruto pouted and said, "Tenten that wasn't very nice of you, why did you feel the need to sneak up on me 'tebayo."

Tenten snorted and pointed out, "Well since you are a Shinobi you really ought to be able to detect me sneaking up on you, but then again you are just a Genin." At this she smirked as Naruto's pout deepened.

After a few seconds she finally decided to let him go and asked, "So Naruto, why were you wondering around the shopping district. If you are looking for something in particular I might be able to help you out."

At this Naruto looked up and responded, "Well to be honest I was only window shopping, I wasn't really looking for a weapon or something, I was trying to find you."

Tenten looked puzzled at this before responding, "Me, why were you looking for me?"

Naruto simply replied, "I wanted to talk to you for a bit if you were free. Though if you are busy I would understand."

Tenten snorted as she said, "No I'm not really busy today, I was just heading to my favorite weapons shop to stock up on some supplies, and if you want to tag along we can talk while I get my stuff."

Naruto scratched the back of his neck as he said, "Well I don't mind tagging along, but what I want to talk about kind of has to be done in private, it being a village secret and all that."

Tenten looked over at him with a questioning look as she said, "What kind of village secret would they entrust to a loud mouthed Genin, and if it is so secret why tell me?"

Naruto began pouting again as he said, "Again with the cruelty, it's not my fault I was out of the village for the last few years and wasn't promoted, plus I technically learned this secret the same day I became a genin so there. And I was kind of ordered to tell you by Baachan."

Tenten looked even more confused as she asked, "How can you be kind of ordered to do something, either you are ordered or you aren't, Right?"

Naruto snorted, "Well let's put it this way there is technically only one person allowed to either tell or give permission to tell this secret based on a law by Sandaime-Jiji and that person is me Dattebayo. However, Baachan is the Hokage so she can remove the law if she wants to and she told me to tell my friends the secret myself or she would do just that."

Tenten looked even more confused as she said, "Fine, I can't figure out what sort of secret would fall into that sort of situation, but you obviously won't give me any more details until we go somewhere private, so why don't you pick somewhere to go while I get my stuff and when I get back we can head there."

Naruto nodded and thought for a moment before Tenten disappeared into one of the shops. As he thought he was glancing around the village before his eyes landed on somewhere in particular so he decided that would work as the place.

After a bit he began to fidget nervously partly due to what he had to do soon and partly because people were giving him strange looks as he stood around in the street after having been there so long. As he finally noticed Tenten exiting the store with a few new scrolls in hand he quickly ran up to her and blurted, "Okay, let's go."

As he took off down the street and hopped up to the rooftops she blinked a few times before chasing after him shouting, "Hey wait up baka, where are we going."

Naruto laughed madly as he shouted back, "Follow me and you will find out 'tebayo."

Tenten growled as she chased after her errant friend before catching up to him once he stopped on top of the Hokage monument. Once she was beside him she grabbed him by his collar and lifted him up as she said, "Honestly, Naruto, why do you have to be so childish, we could have walked here like normal people or at least taken a more direct route than circling the village." However she dropped him and 'Hmpfed' when he started chuckling at her antics.

Naruto continued to chuckle as he stood up and walked over to the Yondaime's head and proceeded to settle down amidst the spikes of stone hair. As he leaned back on his favorite spike which had a spectacular view of the village he sighed. He glanced over at Tenten and said, "I like to come up here and think sometimes and this is a really quiet and secluded place. Plus it has the best view of the village from here. But please come sit with me so we can get this talk underway."

Tenten walked over to the head and gracefully sat down with her back against a spike a little to the left of the space in front of Naruto, allowing her to look at him without impeding his line of sight to the village. As she sat she noticed the serene look on Naruto's face and was surprised by how calm he seemed despite the fact that he seemed slightly nervous earlier.

However, before she could voice her question he said, "I always enjoy coming up here, it helps to keep me grounded and reminds me of my promise to protect the village with everything I've got. Before we get started, I was thinking about something. When I was talking to Bushy Brows the other day he mentioned you knew something about Fuinjutsu, I was wondering what you know about seals designed to hold or store things inside them?"

Tenten looked confused by this before her face broke out in a grin as she proudly replied, "Well I don't know much about sealing but most of what I do know relates to storage seals since I wanted to be able to make my own special ones for my use."

Tenten adopted a thoughtful look before continuing, "I know that to create and then seal something requires an equal amount of energy as the thing being sealed, assuming the sealer has perfect Chakra control. Obviously inanimate objects usually have very little relative energy so it takes almost no chakra to use them. If the thing you are sealing is quite large then it will take a bit more chakra to create the seal though once again the sealing and releasing of the item itself will take far less if it is also inanimate."

Tenten paused before continuing, "If for whatever reason you need to seal an organism that contains chakra it will take even more to make and also more to use. Since it is still relative to the amount of energy the item contains sealing a dead body or an organism that doesn't have Ninja level chakra or higher would obviously take less than sealing something with larger chakra pools."

She was quiet for a bit before saying, "Oh, and I almost forgot, there was a bit in the book that talked about higher level seals that said if you wanted to seal something living that was more complex than say a simple plant then you would need a much more complex seal to keep it alive, this requiring more Chakra to create and use."

Naruto nodded, "That makes sense, so for instance if you wanted to seal a large chakra filled entity and keep it alive you would need a ridiculous amount of Chakra and probably very good control."

Tenten looked thoughtful before saying, "Yeah that would be correct, though from my understanding of the Chakra requirements, for something that complicated you would likely need help to seal it just to meet the chakra requirements. I suppose you could also do it if you had similar amounts of Chakra to what the Shodai Hokage and his wife were said to have. Also for anything more than permanent storage I can't imagine a use for such a seal since it would still nearly wipe most Jonin out just to seal or release the contents. Honestly such a seal would likely be quite impressive even if it had limited uses due to its cost for creation and use."

Naruto hummed before responding, "Anyways, on with what I came to talk to you about. What do you know about the Bijuu?"

Tenten snorted before saying, "You have the most random topic changes, well I don't know much about them except the fact that the Kyuubi is one of them that attacked our village 15 years ago and that the Shodai was said to have the ability to suppress them so I assume that means there are more than just Kyuubi. I know they are massive constructs of Chakra that appear to take on animal form based on the Kyuubi."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah from what I know the Kyuubi is a Kitsune, the Ichibi is a Tanuki and the Nanabi is apparently sort of giant insect according to Shino. So yeah I assume the others are animals as well. Also the bit about the Shodai is true as well since he was able to do so with his Mokuton abilities, which is really cool by the way."

Tenten perked up at this before interrupting, "Wait, how do you know the Mokuton is cool, only the Shodai could use it so you would have never been able to see it in action. Hey why are you laughing?"

Naruto's laughter died away at the slightly menacing aura Tenten was giving off before responding, "Well on our last mission Kakashi was in the hospital so we had a replacement Taichou named Yamato who can use the ability somehow. It was really awesome he could just fade into trees or grow wood out of his arms. I saw him build a house using his abilities too, it's what he calls camping Dattebayo."

Tenten raised her brow at this wondering why someone who had the Mokuton abilities was not more well-known but decided it was probably kept secret for a reason so decided to not comment about it.

Naruto continued, "Anyways, as you also mentioned they are made of pure Chakra and so they unfortunately cannot be destroyed in the traditional sense. If they are defeated in combat they will simply disperse and reform at a later date. To prevent this they had to come up with other ways of dealing with them. As you mentioned earlier sealing something that is large, living and full of chakra would be incredibly difficult and from what I was told it is even worse with something like the Bijuu since their corrosive chakra degrades whatever container they are placed inside."

Tenten nodded as she said, I suppose that makes sense, so if I were to seal one into a scroll its chakra would leak out through the seal slightly and over time it would destroy the scroll. The only way to prevent that would be to create a seal with absolutely no chance of leaking which would be rather difficult, or to find a superior container. Probably one that is either resistant to this corrosive Chakra or would be capable of regenerating itself."

Naruto agreed as he continued, "Yeah that sounds about right. Obviously the best container would be something living but there could be other options I suppose."

Tenten gasped as she said, "But to seal it into something living would be cruel. Whatever you put it in would still be degraded by its chakra leakage which I imagine would be incredibly painful. I suppose if you did it in a Shinobi that had a sufficiently large Chakra pool that it would be highly diluted it might not be as bad."

While Tenten was caught in her thoughts about this she missed Naruto's wince as he thought about just how painful it was. Though he had mostly developed an immunity to it by now, large quantities still burned like no other. After getting his thoughts back in order Naruto said, "Yes you are correct for this to work best it would need to be done in a human, preferably one who was going to be a Shinobi."

Naruto leaned forward as he said, "Though as you can imagine, in the quest for power someone eventually considered what you first mentioned about how impractical it was to use these seals. I mean unleashing a Bijuu inside your enemy's' village or on the battlefield would be a great strategy for defeating your enemy, unfortunately it was hard to seal and unseal them and there was no way to control them unless you had very specific powers like the Shodai."

Tenten nodded in agreement as Naruto continued, "To compensate for this they eventually came up with another idea, if they could make a seal that would allow the Shinobi carrying the Bijuu to access its Chakra then you could have a version of the power with less difficulty and you might even be able to control it. Sadly this was not possible at first for a number of reasons. Apparently early versions of these seals were insanely weak and despite their best efforts almost anyone who tried to access the power ended up being possessed by the beast and it was suddenly set free."

Tenten's shocked face grew solemn as he also said, "Another issue was that with the weakness of the seal to allow the use of Chakra so much was leaked naturally that many Shinobi simply burned up from the Chakra overload. The solutions to these problems were twofold, first they needed a better seal that would still allow relatively easy access to the Chakra with less chances of overload or control by the beast. Second, to help limit the number of deaths by burnout it was preferable to use someone with a malleable Chakra system, so a child was best, and the younger the better."

At this Tenten looked horrified before she blurted out, "But that would be horrible, you're telling me they sealed them into young kids and infants. Even if our systems at a young age are more flexible due to their undeveloped nature, they are still susceptible to trauma and it would still hurt like hell until it adjusted to the new size most likely."

Naruto's grim face told her everything as he nodded before saying, "Yeah, unfortunately that is the case. As a side note though there was also an unintended side effect that came along with this that they could never quite work out a counter to apparently. Namely how to separate the consciousness of the Bijuu from its Chakra. Apparently some of the better ones have ways to limit the amount of contact the Bijuu has with the host but I don't know much about that."

Naruto sighed as he pointed out, "Unfortunately the reverse is also possible, some seals even today are just so shoddy that they allow the Bijuu near unlimited access to the hosts Chakra system as well as contact with their mind. For someone with this type of seal to remain sane they must have insane amounts of willpower to suppress the Bijuu manually, which is quite difficult."

Tenten looked thoughtful before she couldn't help but ask, "This is terrifyingly insightful and all but what does this have to do with anything, and for that matter why do you know so much about this."

Naruto snorted as he replied, "Well I mostly learned this stuff from Ero-Sennin and some of it from Chiyo-Baachan on the mission to rescue Gaara. As to why I know, I am getting to that. I suppose I can stop talking about the kinds of seals now and jump to the next part. From what we have covered you now know that these sorts of insanely complex and difficult to make seals are put on Shinobi, usually as near to their birth as possible. Also you know that sealing is really the only surefire way of stopping a Bijuu, so I ask you Tenten, what happened to the Kyuubi?"

Tenten looked confused as she mechanically replied, "Well it was defeated by the Yondaime you baka. … Oh, I see. I heard the Yondaime was a seal master, so it makes sense that would be how he defeated it, and given the requirements unless he had assistance it makes sense why it would have taken his life to do it. So wait."

Naruto held up his hand as he added, "Before you ask your next question I might as well answer both it and your previous one at once, I know all of this because I was the child it was sealed in."

As Naruto sat there he began to get worried as Tenten's face seemed to plow through all sorts of emotions at ridiculous speeds. Eventually it settled down and flicked between absolute horror and sorrow. Naruto cringed a bit fearing what her thoughts seemed to be headed towards before her face finally picked horror as she shouted out. "How could they do something like that to a baby, I know we were just talking about it, but it seems so much more real now that you say it."

Suddenly Tenten's face morphed to one of rage as she stood and growled out, "And now Lee babbling about you being mistreated makes so much more sense, at the time Neji and I just shrugged it off since all we noticed was people ignoring you, but Lee kept insisting that something was wrong with the way they looked at you that only an orphan would notice. And here we thought he was just being his usual crazy self, I can't believe we didn't believe him, why would he lie about something like that."

Naruto wasn't sure how to react as she suddenly switched gears again to a confused face, "But wait, why does everyone treat you differently if this is a secret?"

Naruto snorted as he said, "My status as the Jinchuuriki is probably the most widely known secret of the leaf. The only people it is a secret from are those who were two young to remember the event of the Kyuubi attack. Apparently shortly after I was born the information got out to the whole village somehow and based on the reactions many of the villagers had to me even existing, Jiji decided to make it illegal to reveal it to anyone who didn't already know."

Naruto suddenly found himself being hugged as Tenten seemed to be torn between how to feel about this newest revelation that the villagers ignoring him was apparently on the light end of the spectrum since early on they wanted him dead. She kept hugging as she said, "You definitely have my respect now baka, anyone who can be as strong as you are despite all that is pretty amazing in my book.

Suddenly Naruto was confused as Tenten pulled back and slapped him as she said, "But I can't believe you didn't tell us about this sooner, I understand waiting a bit, but after all the time we have spent together since the Chuunin exams I feel like we would have understood. Plus now I feel like an Ass for how we ignored Lee's concern for you and by extension, you."

Naruto looked sheepish as he scratched his neck while saying, "Sorry about that, until about two days ago I was absolutely convinced that if you guys knew you would end up being like the villagers and I would have to win back your respect. I am sorry I didn't have more faith in you guys, I just feel the need to protect all of my bonds and so I try and avoid anything that has the chance to weaken them."

Tenten sighed as she leaned back into her original spot as she said, "I suppose that makes sense, and like I said, it's not like we were the best at doing anything that would instil confidence in you about how much we care."

Naruto snorted at that, "Please I know all of you guys care, I can see that much easily enough, I just wasn't sure if you guys cared enough to overlook the giant beast of destruction that was sealed in me."

Tenten perked up at this, "Oh that reminds me, can I see the seal please, unless it's located somewhere private."

At this they both blushed bright crimson before Naruto managed to stutter out, "N-no it shows up on my stomach so I just need to ditch my jacket if that is fine with you."

Tenten nodded and giggled slightly as she noted how embarrassed Naruto seemed when she leaned in to investigate his stomach once he pulled off his jacket. However she frowned as she looked up at him and said, "Hey I don't see anything, where is it?"

Naruto raised his hands in the ram seal before channeling a bit of Chakra before the seal swirled to life around his middle. Tenten leaned back in to examine it further as she muttered to herself about all the different parts she could recognize. As she was finding them she would occasionally point at them or trace bits before she noticed Naruto shudder slightly before laughing lightly himself as he said, "T-Tenten that tickles stop poking me, and could you please back away a bit, having your face that close to me is kind of wierding me out."

At this Tenten bolted upright before turning bright red herself as she realized how weird it must have looked with her busy studying his abdomen up close like that.

Naruto laughed awkwardly as he quickly threw on his jacket again as he said, "Anyways, back to what we were talking about, in case you haven't guessed yet Gaara was the Jinchuuriki for the Ichibi, and yes according to Ero-Sennin his seal was possibly the worst Jinchuuriki seal he has seen in a long time. Also that is why the Akatsuki attacked him, to get the beast he contained, which also means they will be after me as well. That was a large part of the reason Baachan wanted me to tell all of you guys about this. So that she could make plans for the Akatsuki without worrying about accidently exposing me to one of you without proper explanation."

Naruto looked surprised when Tenten suddenly stood up and said, "I know we haven't always been there for you in the past but I know for a fact that Team Guy will be with you when Akatsuki comes for you. Speaking of us who all have you told, please don't tell me I am the last, I know we don't know each other well, but I hate being the last to know something."

Naruto chuckled at her before saying, "Well thanks for the promise, and no you aren't the last of my friends to find out. I still have to tell Kiba, Neji, and Hinata. I am kind of terrified of telling Hinata since she always faints around me for some reason and I don't want to have to deal with that while trying to hold this conversation."

At this Tenten cheered since she wasn't last before muttering Baka at the comment about Hinata fainting.

Naruto sighed and leaned back into his spike before noticing it was now probably around one in the afternoon and so his stomach decided to remind him that he hadn't eaten since his early breakfast with Choji so he looked over at Tenten and asked, "Hey do you want to go get some lunch, I'm starving."

Tenten looked up and decided to have a bit of fun with her clueless friend as she smirked before saying, "Are you asking me out on a date, my, you are bold."

Naruto turned bright red before trying to stutter out a defensive response before he stopped when she suddenly started laughing madly on the ground at him. He proceeded to huff as he said, "Fine make fun of me 'tebayo, I don't care, I am going to Ichiraku Ramen if you want to join me you can, see you later."

At this he dashed off leaving a confused Tenten in his wake before she proceeded to chase him to the restaurant. After a nice conversation largely centered around how he could eat so much ramen and still stay as fit as he was they bid each other farewell before Naruto wondered off to the outskirts of the village once again since all of his remaining friends lived out there. As he walked he considered who to get out of the way next before lightly wondering if his sensei was still somewhere around watching him tell his friends or if he had abandoned that pursuit. At this he shrugged since it mattered little in reality before walking onwards to the next residence.

**Okay that was strange, once again I just didn't want to write this. Though this time it stemmed largely from a lack of confidence in my ability to portray Tenten since she is rarely in any episodes/chapters of cannon and when she is in a story she is either not there for long or she seems to be mainly there as a pairing for Neji or Naruto which makes it slightly difficult to discern how she acts. For a bit I considered taking advantage of a comment on the wiki that says 'according to the databooks she loves to investigate' but I decided against it since in my mind that type of thing would have spanned more characters than just Tenten and so I dropped the idea.**

**Anyways with 4550 words it is longer than my normal reveal chapters but still not quite to Ino length, sigh. Once again please review, my favorite count just went above my review count, which makes no sense to me, even if you don't review every chapter individually just one review when you add it to follow or favorite would be awesome. Oh well, on to writing the next chapter, who to tell, who to tell.**


	9. Smelly Chakra

**Turmanarmo: Here is the next chapter guys, hope it turned out well.**

**Lee: I am sure that your most youthful story will continue to inspire all of your youthful readers. Come let us show them this wonderful creation of yours.**

**Turmanarmo: Thanks I guess Lee, well before he does his 'youthful' disclaimer I want to thank all of those who reviewed/followed/favorite my story, hopefully this continues to meet your expectations.**

**Lee: YOSH, this wonderful story is not a part of the official release of the equally wonderful story about my friend Naruto so you should also youthfully support that as well. Please get ready to be inspired by this youthful tale of friendship.**

As Naruto wondered down the paths to his destination he noticed that someone was following him before that someone called out to him, "Hey, Naruto what are you doing out here."

Naruto turned back and shouted, "Well I was looking for you Kiba, where is Akamaru?"

Naruto turned around again when he heard a bark behind him and proceeded to pet the dog saying, "There you are, you are way better than Kiba, even if I can't understand what you say."

Kiba landed and growled out, "Watch it baka, or I just might have to beat you into respecting me. Anyways what is it you wanted to see me for, do you want to spar or something?"

At Kiba's feral grin and Akamaru's excited yip Naruto chuckled, "Well that wasn't exactly why I came to find you though I am never opposed to more training. Maybe after our discussion if you still feel like doing so we could spar, it might be fun for me to make up for that embarrassing win in the Chuunin exams by handing you a more proper defeat."

Kiba growled as Naruto finished with a smirk before he heard Naruto state, "So anyways, on to what I came for, we need to talk for a bit, got any suggestions for a private or generally awesome place to hold this conversation."

At this Akamaru was actually the one to bark and head off into the forest to which Kiba and Naruto followed while Kiba said, "He claims to know just the place, though I am not sure where we are headed."

After a short walk they arrived at a hill that allowed them to overlook some of the surrounding forest but was quite a ways from the populated areas of the village. Naruto looked around before saying, "Wow Akamaru, you picked an awesome place. This will be perfect."

As the three of them sat down Kiba decided to say, "So Naruto, what was it that we needed to talk about and why did it have to be done in private? Hopefully it's not something embarrassing."

Naruto Hmpfed at Kiba's smirk before saying, "You don't have to worry about that Kiba, What I have to talk to you about is a village secret, that is why It has to be done in secret."

Kiba raised his brow as he scoffed, "Why would you be telling me about a village secret. That seems pretty suspicious to me."

Naruto glared at Kiba, "Honestly Kiba you know me, I wouldn't do anything to harm the village, and I am telling you because Tsunade-Baachan told me to. The reason she told me to instead of telling you herself was because she figured you guys would take it better from a friend than from her or something like that."

Akamaru barked and Kiba said, "Hmm I guess your right you baka, but I also have to agree with Akamaru, you smell nervous for some reason."

Naruto raised his brow skeptically before asking, "You can smell my emotions, how does that work?"

Kiba laughed as he said, "Well Akamaru is better at it than me since he can 'smell' your chakra as well so he can detect the patterns that show nervousness and stuff of that nature, sort of like a really good sensory ninja. However, even without that ability you smell abnormally of sweat despite the fact that it is perfectly nice out and you haven't been doing anything which is a good sign of nervousness. So whatever it is you have to tell us must be pretty scary if it is making you that nervous."

Naruto nodded before continuing, "Yeah that makes sense I guess. You really are pretty cool Akamaru if you can 'smell' Chakra. Hey Kiba, before we get started I have a question for both you and Akamaru, since you two rely on scent to detect someone from a distance you must have a pretty good idea of what I smell like to you. If possible, could you describe what you think I smell like, I am just curious. Also, if you could tell me what you think my Chakra smells like Akamaru that would be awesome."

Kiba looked confused for a moment as he asked, "Why do you want to know what you smell like to me, that seems kind of odd. Ah well, for me a person's smell is a mixture of things. The main components of your scent would be kind of hard to describe. Obviously I smell Ramen on you as usual, but the other scents besides that are a bit more difficult to describe. There is the sweat from your constant training and the smell of the district you live in Konoha. Obviously like all Konoha Ninjas you smell of the forest itself a bit and there are a bunch of other smaller things."

Naruto snorted, "Okay that makes sense and is pretty cool, now what about Akamaru?"

After listening to some barking and other noises from Akamaru Kiba responded, "Oh! That is interesting, Akamaru says that he smells basically the same things as me for your normal scent though he would also add that he thinks you smell very very faintly of fox for some reason. As for your Chakra, Akamaru isn't sure, he says you normally suppress your Chakra pretty well so he has a hard time scenting it, but from our battles with and against you in the past he says your Chakra is very dense and strong compared to most peoples Chakra. He also says that he is pretty sure you have a whole lot of the stuff but once again you seem to be suppressing it naturally."

Akamaru yipped again and Kiba added, "He also says that when we fought in the Chuunin exams your Chakra was strange, it seemed lower and somehow out of whack, which is strange."

Naruto hummed in response before saying, "Well he is right I do have quite a bit of Chakra. And I had forgotten about that incident back at the chuunin exams, honestly knowing what I know now it is even more amazing that I beat you then given my handicapped state.

Kiba snorted, "Yeah right Naruto, everyone went into those fights tired from their previous days in the forest, stop trying to talk yourself up."

Naruto growled back, "I will admit that me beating you by farting was a fluke and if I hadn't done that I would have had a much harder time winning that fight in my state, but that doesn't mean I was lying just then. According to what Ero-Sennin told me later I had a part of my Chakra forcibly sealed off from the rest and that seal on top of making me have slightly less Chakra also ruined the tiny amount of Chakra control I did have at the time. Dattebayo"

Kiba glared back as he said, "As if Naruto, I highly doubt any of the genin in the exams would have been capable of applying that type of seal to you."

Naruto looked confused as he said, "Wait, didn't you know that our team was attacked by Orochimaru during the second phase. That is where Sasuke got that curse seal that messed with his head making him even more of a teme than usual and caused him to defect."

Kiba raised his eyebrow before he heard Akamaru bark. He then said, "No I hadn't heard about that, though apparently Akamaru did so I guess I believe you."

Naruto snorted before saying, "Well at least Akamaru is informed though I suppose Jiji might have tried to keep it secret at the time. Anyways, when we were attacked I tried to protect my team from the Hebi-teme so to get me out of the way he attached a seal to me that apparently was designed to make me even less of a threat to him and it also had the side effect of knocking me out temporarily. In our fight it probably wouldn't have made a terribly huge difference but it still would have given me a better chance of beating you in a fair fight."

Naruto continued, "But anyways back to Akamaru smelling my chakra, let me try something and then have him do it."

Kiba raised his brow as Naruto closed his eyes and seemed to be almost meditating before he suddenly started to visibly glow blue which caused Kiba to say, "Wow man you weren't kidding when you said you had a lot, even I can sense that. You are literally radiating Chakra. So Akamaru what do you think?"

After some barking and such from his ninken Kiba continued, "Well Akamaru says it's like he said before, it is very strong and thick and in large quantities but he also says that it feels like something is missing. Oh and he also says that your chakra smells nice which is an interesting compliment from him."

Naruto nodded before closing his eyes again and saying, "Okay now once more."

After a short pause Naruto looked back up and Kiba noticed his eyes were red and his whisker marks had seemingly spread out on his face. He also seemed to have developed some feral traits similar to him when he and Akamaru fight such as longer fangs and claws. At this observation he also noted that Akamaru had started growling at Naruto and slowly backing away.

After a few seconds Naruto laughed lightly and suddenly the changes to himself faded away and he returned to normal at which point Akamaru whined before sitting down again and communicating with his partner.

Naruto scratched the back of his head and said, "Sorry Akamaru, I didn't mean to freak you out there, I just wanted to test something out, so what did you think of 'my' Chakra that time."

Kiba finally looked back up and said, "Okay that was weird Naruto, I haven't seen Akamaru ever react to an ally that way though he absolutely demands that the Chakra he just smelled was an enemies and not yours. He claims it smelled to 'evil' to be a friend. And what was up with the transformation, it seemed a lot like the transformation an Inuzuka goes through when we are using our Beast Human Taijutsu."

Naruto nodded as he said, "Well to be fair I am not overly surprised at Akamaru's response, he is right that Chakra I used is rather tainted I would say. As to the transformation, it is an unfortunate bodily response to using that chakra."

Kiba looked confused as he asked, "You are making no sense, what are you talking about. How can you have tainted Chakra?"

Naruto looked thoughtful before saying, "Well I have two sources of Chakra inside my body. First is the one I showed earlier which is my own Chakra and the reason Akamaru thought it was missing something is because I normally have a small amount of the second Chakra running through my coils and when I was showing the first I was completely suppressing the second Chakra. This second time was a bit more difficult, I suppressed my Chakra as much as was safe and then drew on a bit of the other chakra, just enough that due to its potency it would outweigh my own and Akamaru would primarily sense it. However before I go into further details I want to know what Akamaru thought of it, Shino's insects thought it was poisonous and were afraid of it, what do you think Akamaru."

After a short period of back and forth discussion Kiba reported, "Akamaru feels similarly, he says that the Chakra seemed vile and dangerous. He noticed that it was even thicker than your own and smelled distinctly like fox for some reason. Also he and I want to know how that Chakra doesn't burn you up since it is so corrosive in feel."

Naruto hummed as he said, "Well that all makes sense and believe me it does burn a lot, and I currently feel like I am itching all over on the inside while my chakra heals the damage. Normally this Chakra, which I am going to call the 'red' Chakra is in such a small amount in my system that it is just supplementing my own and adds a healing factor to me. Which I know makes no sense, but apparently when it is mixed in with my own chakra, which I will call 'blue,' like that it becomes less destructive and actually helps my body."

Naruto continued, "When I use the red Chakra a lot it slowly wears down my body until I start to go numb and the more of it I use the more extensive the damage. For instance, the amount I used with you is what I like to call my initial state, it hurts the least and I have never needed to hold it long enough to do much actual damage to myself. Plus while it is active due to the shear amount of Chakra running through me my accelerated healing is massively sped up so I heal faster than I am damaged."

Naruto glanced off to the side as he said, "After that if I use a bit more I will start to glow like I do when I max out my own Chakra though it will be red and it often flutters around more wildly and occasionally takes shapes like the tendrils of Chakra that formed around me during my fight with Neji. Though shortly after that level I will literally start to form a Chakra shroud that looks almost like a liquid forming around me. At this point the damage is more sever and after a short while of using it I will start to go numb in my extremities."

Kiba looked shocked at this as he said, "Wait a minute, your red chakra can form an actual layer of Chakra around you. Not only does that sound excruciatingly painful, I can't even imagine how much Chakra that would take just to form."

Naruto grimaced as he said, "Oh believe me that is just the start of it and yeah it hurts a lot. After I form the shroud it takes on a fox like appearance and as I pump more Chakra into it the shroud grows tails. I have never actually been past four tails but both times I did so I lost consciousness and from what I was told it isn't pretty. Apparently at that point the Chakra is so corrosive that it literally peels off my skin and I begin bleeding into it so bad that you can no longer see me under the cloak it just looks blackish red. It also apparently heals me so quickly that I am constantly losing and regrowing my skin which was unbelievably painful for the few seconds I was conscious before passing out."

Kiba looked horrified before he blurted, "Then why the hell would you use that if it does so much damage, even if it makes you insanely powerful I can't imagine why you would ever want to use that power."

Naruto nodded as he said, "Well to be fair when I first used the initial state I wasn't fully aware I was doing it since my body just reacted as a way to defend itself. And the first time I used the cloak I only went to one tail and it was again brought out of a need to defend myself during my fight with Sasuke. When he sent a Chidori through my lung I started using the initial state to heal that and gain a slight advantage. However, when he did bushy brows move and broke my neck I ended up letting a bit more out and that was the first time I grew the cloak."

Naruto looked up when he heard growling from the other two as Kiba said, "The Teme nearly killed you twice, why didn't you ever tell anyone this."

Naruto shrugged at this before saying, "Well at the time I was so ashamed about it that I didn't want to talk about it with any of you guys, but I did tell Tsunade-Baachan during my mission report though I don't know if she ever told anyone else or not. Anyways, from there during my trip with Ero-Sennin he tried to get me to have better control of my red Chakra and so he had me use more and more of it and train with it which eventually lead to the four tails event. However, I have recently come to the same opinion as you, the power simply isn't worth the risk and so I have decided to stop using it unless I absolutely have to. Of course the reason for that had less to do with how much damage it did to me and more to do with the danger I can become to others, apparently when I lose consciousness in the four tails form the evil Chakra takes over and keeps moving for me 'tebayo."

Kiba frowned before saying, "You sure are a strange one Naruto though now that I think about it, why do you have two Chakra's I don't think I have ever heard of such a thing before."

Naruto looked thoughtful before he said, "Well to be completely honest, I didn't even know about my red Chakra until the night I graduated. As to why I have it I suppose you could say my little curse was given to me as a nasty birthday present, but to explain that we are going to need a slight story change, sorry."

Kiba huffed as Naruto continued, "As you may or may not know I was born on the same day as the Yondaime's death. At the time he was fighting the Kyuubi to their fabled death match. However a fact that some do not know about the Bijuu is that since they are made entirely out of Chakra they cannot be killed in the normal sense. If you kill one all that happens is they disappear and reform a few years later. So the Yondaime being the Hokage needed to find another way to deal with the beast so he used his vast Knowledge of Fuinjutsu and sealed it inside baby me which is why I have a second source of Chakra."

At this comment Kiba chocked on air and Akamaru whined before they both noticed Naruto lift his shirt up and channel some Chakra which caused a seal to form on his stomach. Kiba winced as he said, "Bum deal man, is that why all of the adults in the village always smelled so agitated when you were around. I always wondered how you had managed to make them all pissed off at you, I mean I know you were annoying but still."

At Naruto's indignant hey Kiba burst into laughter. After a bit Akamaru barked a few times which caused Kiba to take on a slightly thoughtful look before asking, "Hey Naruto, Akamaru wants to know if there are others like you, he is pretty sure he has felt this type of Chakra before he just can't remember where."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, there are I have only ever met one other Jinchuuriki before though. The one he is likely thinking of is Gaara although when you first met him during the Chuunin exams he was being heavily influenced by his tenant the Ichibi and was also being driven insane by the fact that everyone in his village hated or feared him. Plus his own father trying to have him assassinated surely didn't help things."

Naruto stopped when he heard Kiba and Akamaru growling again. He decided to ask, "Hey what's got you two all wound up?"

Kiba ground out, "We just don't like hearing about people being abused by their own pack. It is bad enough when the village at large hates you, but to have the very people who are supposed to watch out for you turn on you, that is just so much worse. Don't get me wrong we aren't particularly happy about how the larger pack treats you here in Konoha, but at least you have developed a pack of your own that trust you."

Naruto smiled as he responded, "That is an interesting way of looking at it Kiba, though I kind of like it." At this Naruto smirked before saying, "Though in our little pack I am definitely the alpha."

Kiba growled out, "Don't push it Baka or Akamaru and I will be forced to put you in your place."

A few seconds later both parties burst out laughing and once they were done they were both smirking as they thought about their unique friendship. Sure they were both hot headed and argumentative at times, but they both understood each other's barbs were in jest and even if they would outwardly react to them they both knew that it was there way of joking around.

After a while Kiba looked over at his friend and said, "Hey Naruto, why were we never told about this before. I mean it clearly seems like all the adults know about it so why not us?"

Naruto snorted before saying, "Well as you so nicely pointed out earlier, how did the adults react to me? They all knew just as much as you know now and they choose to be afraid of me or angry at me. How do you think you would have reacted if you were told as a kid that there was a kid at your school that had a demon inside him?"

Kiba looked like he was about to protest before he dropped his head and said, "I suppose you are right, I probably would not have reacted well at the time especially since I didn't know you that well back then."

At this admission Akamaru whined lightly before Naruto smiled and said, "Don't worry about it that is why Jiji made it so that none of you guys could know about it. That way I would have a chance to make real friends, even if the villagers tried to sabotage it by telling their kids to stay away from me. In the end though they couldn't stop me from befriending you guys and I wouldn't have it any other way. In all honesty I would say I am doing pretty good, I have ten friends who will stand by me no matter what, one wayward friend who I will bring back someday, and if I can reach him I may get another friend soon in Sai. Plus on top of all that I have a bunch of adults who are precious to me as well."

Kiba snorted before saying, "I guess you have built yourself a mighty fine pack, even if you are starting to get all mushy on me right now."

Akamaru barked in agreement as Kiba smirked before saying, "But seriously Naruto, I am glad you told me about this. Thank you for trusting Akamaru and me with your secret. It means a lot to us that you did this, even if it was slightly ordered by Tsunade-sama. And know this, even if you aren't the alpha of our group like you seem to think you are you will always have Team Kurenai's support."

As Akamaru barked once more Naruto smiled and looked up before saying, "Thanks Kiba. That means a lot to me. Now if you two are still up to it I would gladly prove to you my status as Alpha 'tebayo."

Akamaru and Kiba stood up with feral smirks to match Naruto's before they stood across form one another before forming the seal of confrontation and then getting into their ready stance.

Kiba crouched down and Akamaru performed a Henge into Kiba before they both dashed at Naruto at full speed. Naruto called out, "You are definitely fast Kiba though Bushy Brows is still faster."

Naruto created a few Kage Bunshin and formed a circle to defend and keep an eye on Kiba's attacks. Suddenly Kiba and Akamaru attacked from both sides using Gatsuuga. Naruto and his clones waited until the last possible second before jumping out of the way but Kiba and Akamaru managed to veer to the sides and only slightly injure each other with the attack. As they glanced off each other they changed course and headed straight for Naruto in the sky and managed to get there just before Naruto could use a Bunshin as a springboard to escape.

Taking the full force of a Gatsuuga sent Naruto spiraling into the ground and as he got back up he was covered in scratches and shallow cuts. Naruto grinned before performing another Kage Bunshin and having his clones form up into groups of three as they charged at Kiba and Akamaru at the same time. They engaged the pair in Taijutsu but it was only a matter of time before they dispelled due to their Bunshin status. Needless to say the two were slightly confused when all of the Bunshin dispelled leaving no Naruto.

They both sniffed simultaneously before looking straight up into the oncoming fist of Naruto and another Bunshin. Akamaru managed to dodge in time but Kiba wasn't as lucky as he took the full force of the blow and landed hard with Naruto sitting on top of him. Naruto raised his hand to deliver a punch that would hopefully leave Kiba hurting even more before his hand suddenly was bitten by Akamaru and he was pulled off of Kiba violently. Unfortunately for the two of them the one attacking Kiba turned out to be a Bunshin as well and Akamaru was surprised when he suddenly felt Naruto jump on his back.

Akamaru struggled to get his attacker off but Naruto held tight as Kiba dazedly got back up only to be met by another Naruto who quickly engaged him in Taijutsu to try and keep him confused. Eventually Akamaru managed to dislodge Naruto from his back who surprisingly enough turned out to be the real one before dashing to help Kiba. As that Bunshin dispelled the two stood side by side again as they performed another Gatsuuga and plowing towards Naruto.

Naruto managed to perform a Kawarimi at the last second replacing himself with a nearby log before he hurled a Kunai at the rotating duo as he shouted "Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" sending literally hundreds of Kunai at the pair. The two were hard pressed to deflect all of the Kunai and received quite a few glancing blows because of it but they were not prepared for the Naruto Bunshin army that followed up the attack.

As time passed there were many more attempts to best one another but in the end they stood opposite each other panting and silently agreed that at the moment there was no victor so they walked up to one another and performed the Seal of Reconciliation as they both fell to the ground laughing.

As they lay there Naruto gasped out, "Well that was definitely a much more fun fight than our Chuunin exams bout. Though I am sad that we couldn't prove who the victor was. At least we had fun and got to train some in the process."

Akamaru barked in agreement as Kiba stood up and said to his friend and rival, "So I guess that concludes our time together, who else haven't you told yet?"

Naruto stood up as well before saying, "Well I only have Neji and Hinata left to go, I was mostly just deciding these at random but I have been actively avoiding the one with Hinata. Any time I am around her she always faints or stutters really bad so I am not sure how well this conversation will go over with her."

At this Kiba burst out laughing while Akamaru whined as Naruto said, "What?"

Kiba looked back over at his friend as he said, "Nothing, Nothing my baka of a friend. Have fun telling those two and see you later."

As Kiba and Akamaru hopped into the tree in the direction of their compound Naruto decided to walk back and as he headed for his final destination of the Hyuuga compound he wondered what that was all about before shrugging to himself and deciding it wasn't worth worrying about.

**Well that was another fun Chapter, Kiba seemed pretty easy to write since he acts a lot like Naruto a lot of the time, they are both loud and boisterous people who like to believe they can do anything regardless of the facts. But at the same time they both care a lot about their friends and would do anything for them. Hopefully I did him and his faithful ninken Akamaru justice in this chapter and hopefully you liked how I chose to reveal it this time. Also, hopefully the Fight scene wasn't two cheesy, I felt like at this time in the story most of their friends are equals, they are just better at specific areas. So I decided that with the two people who would most likely want to spar with Naruto they would be close enough that it would be possible for them to have a draw like I did with both Kiba and Lee.**

**Anywho, with 4739 words this one is decent length once again, at first it seemed like it was going to plow right through and maybe match Ino's but then as I reached the 3000 word point the conversation seemed to quickly want to wrap up and so once the fight scene was added it did not quite make it. Ah well, Hope you guys liked it and please review. See you next time as we tell the Hyuuga pair in the next two chapters.**


	10. Fated Meeting

**Turmanarmo: Well I am back with another reveal, only one more to go after this.**

**Kurama: It is amazing how in a story about me I have so little screen time, I don't particularly like being talked about all the time when I never get to say anything about what the brat and his friends are saying.**

**Turmanarmo: Now Kurama, I know it must be annoying to be talked about so much, but you must remember that at the point this story is set Naruto and you don't particularly like one another. Also he and his friends only really have the stories of you attacking the village and Naruto's handful of encounters with you to base your character on, and let's be honest, you usually threaten to kill or maim him when he is around. Anyways, why don't you do the disclaimer so Naruto can have his body back.**

**Kurama: *Hmpf* Fine, this fleshbag does not own my host or the story about his life. I would suggest supporting the original release, but you should just skip to about the time when I and the brat become friends, I have way more screen time after that point and honestly that makes the whole thing better. Since his simple mind forgot about it I suppose I should thank those who have favorited/followed/reviewed but I honestly don't care so if you insignificant humans are done wasting my time I am going to go have a nap after I attempt to get Naruto to make my area in his mindscape look a bit nicer. The empty space that it has become is barely better than the sewer.**

**Naruto: Hey how did I get here again? Oh look a new chapter, quickly release it so I can read it.**

As Naruto wondered down the street to the Hyuuga district he wondered how this conversation would end up going down. He also wondered which of his Hyuuga friends he would find first, though as he approached he noticed that there were a pair of guards standing outside the gate so he walked over to them since they were likely there to keep track of who entered the compound.

When he neared the gate they turned their impassive gaze to him and asked, "What business do you have within the Hyuuga district."

Naruto looked up and said, "I am here to talk with Neji and Hinata, do you know if they are around."

The guard on the right side said, "As far as I know Neji-san is still here and is likely in the training grounds. Hinata-sama left a while ago, I believe she said she would be spending the day with her sensei Kurenai-san and would not be back until later."

Naruto nodded and said, "Okay, I will talk to Hinata later, but can I go in and talk with Neji right now."

The guard on the left said, "I suppose there is no harm in letting you in Uzumaki-san as long as you do not cause a commotion."

Naruto smirked as he said, "I suppose I can contain myself while I am here dattebayo, thanks guys."

At this he dashed off to see if he could find Neji somewhere inside. Eventually he heard the distinctive sound of the Hyuuga Taijutsu style and decided to approach the training grounds.

When he was about to knock on the door he heard the sounds inside stop before he heard someone inside say, "You may enter Uzumaki-san."

He walked in and noticed a man who looked even more regal than most of the Hyuuga he had met standing across from Neji. As he raised his hand in greeting he said, "Hey Neji how are you, and who is the guy you were training with."

Neji sighed as he said, "I am doing well Naruto. This is Hiashi-sama, he is Hinata-sama's father and the clan head of the Hyuuga."

Naruto laughed before he reached out his hand and said, "Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet you."

Hiashi continued to look at Naruto before he said, "Yes, I know who you are Uzumaki. However, I would like to know why you are here?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously as he said, "I was hoping to talk with Neji for a bit, though if he is busy training I can come back later, I would hate to interrupt my friends training."

Hiashi raised a brow ever so slightly as he said, "Very well, we were going to be done soon anyways given the late hour. Neji we will continue your training tomorrow, you may have the rest of the day off."

Neji bowed to Hiashi as he said, "Thank you Hiashi-sama."

As Hiashi left the grounds Naruto quirked an eyebrow as he said, "Well that was interesting, I see why Hinata is so shy though. I know she has self-confidence issues even if she is a great Kunoichi, but her dad seems like the type to demand complete perfection."

Neji shook his head as he replied, "How is it that you figured that out in the thirty seconds of having met Hiashi-sama."

Naruto snorted as he said, "Honestly Neji, it isn't like it was that hard, when you live as an orphan who nearly everyone dislikes you get very good at reading peoples negative emotions and their expectations. That way you can avoid angering them unnecessarily and avoid the ones with expectations you can't meet 'tebayo."_ Though with me that meant avoiding most people in general since my existence angered them and they expected me to go away._

Neji hummed before responding, "You really are a strange one Naruto. Anyways, why did you need to speak with me?"

Naruto laughed and said, "Well Kakashi-sensei did call me the number one unpredictable knucklehead ninja for a reason. And I needed to talk to you about something important, but if possible could we go somewhere private to have the conversation."

Neji snorted before he replied, "That name fits you well Naruto. Anyways the only private place inside the Hyuuga compound that I am allowed to access would be my room as the walls are lined with special seals that prevent the Byakugan from seeing through it. So if you do not mind we can continue our conversation in my room."

Naruto smiled as he said, "That is cool, I kind of always wondered about how you had any privacy since your eyes give you x-ray vision. Anyways, lead on Neji, it might be kind of cool to see your room."

Once they left the Main family's section of the compound and wondered over to the Branch family housing section Naruto noticed that the house Neji was leading them to was rather plain and was the closest house to the Main family sparing grounds. As they entered Naruto looked around and noticed that Neji's room was very neat and organized. In one corner he had an area clearly set up for meditation and along one of the walls he had a table with a neat stack of scrolls that seemed to be largely training scrolls based on some of their titles.

While Naruto looked around Neji took off his headband and set it on his table before walking over to his closet and pulling out some mats for them to sit on while they talked. As they sat and got comfortable Naruto's eyes couldn't help but be drawn to the curse seal on Neji's brow as he thought once again about how sad it was that there were other people in the village who knew what it was like to be marked against your will and be treated differently because of it.

What was it that Neji had said during their bout in the Chuunin exams? Something like, 'You don't know what it's like to be branded with a mark that sets you apart, a mark that can never be wiped away.' The sheer amount of Irony in that statement would almost make Naruto laugh if it weren't so sad.

From what he had heard, things had begun to change in the Hyuuga clan after Neji and Naruto's match in the Chuunin exam finals, but that still didn't quite make up for all the years where the Main family had basically used the Branch members as slaves.

Sure he understood the value of having the seal protect the Byakugan by destroying one's eyes upon death to prevent anyone from stealing the valuable Kekkei Genkai or study it after death to learn how to counter it. However, the thing he couldn't understand was why they felt the need to add the second feature that allowed the Main family members to force Chakra into the brains of those who were marked causing pain that made a migraine seem pleasant in comparison.

As Naruto shuddered Neji spoke, "You know Naruto, it isn't polite to stare. You have seen my curse seal before, so why are you so interested in staring at it right now?"

Naruto laughed nervously as he said, "I am not really interested in it per se. Seeing it just caused me to think about some things and I kind of got lost in my memories for a second, sorry."

Neji frowned before he asked, "What would my seal remind you of that would make you have such a sour look on your face as you did a few seconds ago?"

Naruto snorted, "Well I was partly thinking about how much damage that seal has done to your clan, and about our fight during the Chuunin exams when you first showed it to me and told me about it and your story."

Neji shook his head as he said, "That truly was a match to remember. It is thanks to you that I have come so far since then, even if your insistence on constantly moving forward despite the fact that I had clearly beaten you was aggravating at the time. Despite the fact that it was humiliating to lose to you in our fight even though I should have defeated you fairly easily I am glad it turned out that way. I honestly don't know how bad things would still be if you hadn't managed to prove to me that fate didn't control every aspect of our lives."

Neji smiled as he said, "As an added bonus to you beating the stupid out of me your determination managed to convince Hiashi-sama to reveal the truth about why my father, his brother, died and also convinced him to finally let go of the old ways and move towards bringing the Branch and Main families together as equals."

Neji frowned a bit as he said, "Though thinking back to that fight, there was one thing I never understood. How was it that you managed to re-open your tenketsu when I had clearly sealed them with my attack? I saw you pump a vast amount of Chakra through your system to do so but the thing is the amount of Chakra you sent through your system on that day was larger in quantity than all the Chakra you have now, though a lot of it was burnt up each time a tenketsu opened. Also, I noticed that the Chakra you sent out seemed different than your normal Chakra based on the way it looked to my Byakugan."

Naruto laughed as he said, "Oh that, I was just doing something Ero-sennin had taught me just before the finals. At the time I kind of figured if I wanted to re-open them I could probably just push a ton of Chakra into my system and that would force them open. The only thing I regret about that decision was how much it hurt as my system was forced back on."

Neji snorted as he said, "You would find a brute force way to override the closing of all your Tenketsu by my Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms attack. If I didn't know that you have some sort of strange healing ability I would also wonder how you had seemingly healed all of your wounds including the one I inflicted to your heart when you reopened your system. I figure that by forcing that much Chakra into your system you also accelerated your healing factor."

Naruto nodded as he replied, "Yeah, something like that. As a side note you mentioned that you were observing my Chakra when I forced the system open and you noticed that it was different than my normal Chakra. Do you remember anything about that Chakra?

Neji looked thoughtful for a moment before responding, "Not much besides the fact that it seemed stronger than your own and had a different appearance. Oh and while on the outside it was forming those tendrils around you on your inside it seemed to form the shape of a fox head for a short time. However that is all I remember."

Naruto nodded before asking, "Say these walls that block the Byakugan, they don't happen to block chakra as well do they?"

Neji looked curious as he said, "They do, but why do you want to know that."

Naruto smirked as he said, well I was going to show you that Chakra again and see what you thought of it now that you are not in the middle of a battle and now that your Byakugan is even better than it used to be. The reason I wanted it blocked is because I didn't particularly want to do it if your entire clan was going to be able to sense it as they may not take kindly to me using it inside your compound."

Neji raised his brow as he stated, "I fail to see why they would be concerned by that, they would most likely just believe I am sparing with you or something, but regardless let us see this strange chakra of yours. Byakugan!"

As the veins around Neji's eyes raised and his pupilless eyes focused on Naruto's chakra system Naruto calmed himself and reached for his tenants Chakra before doing like he had with Kiba and forcing enough of it into his system to be the main thing Neji would likely see. As he opened his now slited and red eyes to look at his friend he noticed the look of extreme concentration in Neji's eyes.

After a short time Neji glanced up at Naruto's eyes as he said, "Well aside from the transformation to your body this is definitely the Chakra you used last time. I notice that your Chakra seems to take two different Colors, Blue and Red. The blue one is what you seem to normally have with only trace amounts of the red but right now your blue Chakra is highly suppressed and the red Chakra is dominating your system. It looks highly erratic and uncontrollable based on the way it flows so that is something."

Neji hummed as he continued, "I would also say it seems more potent I suppose given how dense it seems to be despite its erratic nature. Based on the way it seems to be interacting with your Chakra network it is almost like despite the fact that you are healing very fast you are taking miniscule amounts of damage constantly. Also, despite the fact that there was a very small amount of this red Chakra in your system to start with I cannot see where it came from as there was definitely not that much at first. It almost seemed like the Chakra was being created where it was appearing in the base of your Chakra pool before spiraling outwards to the rest of your body."

Naruto nodded as he replied, "That is neat to know, so you can't sense that part of my Chakra unless I pull it out of the seal. That could be useful to know so I will have to keep that in mind. As to the rest of your observations I would have to say it is pretty much in line with what I already knew and what others have confirmed for me."

Neji interrupted, "Excuse me, but did you say, pull it out of the seal, you have a seal that stores Chakra for use. That is strange, given the fact that you didn't seem to have a noticeable drop in your chakra when you drew out the other I question how this seal would work since according to Tenten unsealing something with that much energy would be energy draining itself, especially for someone without perfect Chakra control. And we all know how poor your Chakra control is due to the size of your Chakra pool."

Naruto snorted, "Yeah Tenten and I talked about that and we came to the same conclusion, though my seal works a bit different than that. Here let me show you. "

Naruto proceeded to lift up his shirt and Neji noticed the complicated seal array that was etched onto Naruto's stomach. Neji utilized his Byakugan to examine as much of the seal as he could before saying, "That is some impressive work, there are symbols embedded into that seal that are nearly invisible to the naked eye and the Chakra pathway for the seal lines up perfectly with the center of your Chakra network which explains why it is not noticeable unless I know to look for it. So this Chakra you use is sealed inside of there, how do you add more to the seal as you use it and where are you getting such unusual Chakra from to store in there?"

Naruto laughed as he said, "Yeah, the seal is pretty cool though I don't add Chakra to it, the thing sealed in there is constantly replenishing it's Chakra and so I can draw on it without worrying about running out. Plus the amount of Chakra in this seal is so vast I doubt I could ever run through it in any timely manner, at least not at my current level. I could likely make a good dozen Shadow clones and burn the Chakra up just to run faster and have hugely wasteful fights for nearly a day before I would run out of it. And I question if even that would be able to dent it in reality."

Neji looked skeptical as he said, "What sort of entity do you have trapped inside this seal of yours that would be able to maintain and replenish that amount of Chakra, and why do you have this entity sealed inside you?"

Naruto snorted as he said, "Well to explain that I would need to explain a bit first, I suppose we could use that to explain a bit. Neji, since you were on the mission to save Gaara, what were you told about why he was captured and what happened to him."

Neji raised his brow at the strange change of topic as he replied, "Well do to the speed at which we needed to be sent back out we did not have much time to cover what the mission details were, we were simply sent out to follow your Sensei's summoned ninken and on the way he informed us that we were being sent to back you up on your mission to rescue Kazekage-sama since he had been taken captive."

Neji continued, "Other than that and the fact that whatever they did to him while he was captured seemed to have killed him I know very little. I was not informed why he was taken in the first place, though if I had to guess it would have to be either for his position of power as the Kazekage or for that interesting ability of his to control sand. Though that doesn't really add up with the results of their capture, both of those reasons should have kept him alive, but instead he was dead when we arrived."

Neji frowned as he said, "They also clearly were not interested in assassinating him otherwise they would have simply killed him in Suna instead of dragging him off to die later. So when I think about it there is no logical reason for them to have done what they did based on what I know."

Naruto nodded as he said, "Yeah that pretty much covers it. Of your guesses the closest one to being correct would be their interest in his ability to control sand. Though they don't want that for the purpose of breeding more sand users or anything like that. You see the reason Gaara developed that ability is due to something that happened before his birth. The major villages all have a program they call the Jinchuuriki program, which is designed to make super weapons for their village."

Naruto grimaced as he continued, "The way they accomplish this is by sealing a powerful being inside of a young child, preferably one that is likely to become a Shinobi. Gaara developed his sand ability due to having the Sand demon sealed inside of him and Akatsuki was after that power. Unfortunately to extract the demon from its host is fatal for said host, we are just lucky Chiyo-Baachan was willing to use that Jutsu of hers that transferred her life energy into Gaara to bring him back to life. As I assume you have figured out by now I, like Gaara, am a Jinchuuriki and due to that the Akatsuki will be coming after me some time in the near future."

Neji scowled as he said, "First, you don't really seem like a weapon of mass destruction to me. If you were supposed to be a weapon wouldn't you have been trained like one to maximize your abilities? Though your tenant seems to have given you much less useful abilities relative to Gaara. Second, the Akatsuki can have you over our dead bodies, I know that you have many people who will stand with you when they come for you. We have all learned well the will of fire from your example, we will not let our comrades die so easily."

Naruto snorted as he said, "Well to be fair my tenant gives me two main things, a massive healing factor and near endless Chakra on top of my already large Chakra pool. This means that if I absolutely have to I can fight for much longer than most. And thanks for saying you would stand with me Neji, it means a lot dattebayo."

Naruto continued, "Also the reason I was not trained as a weapon is because despite the fact that Konoha has a Jinchuuriki program we do not use them as simple weapons like some of the other villages, sure there are some here who think of me like that but Jiji didn't and neither does Baachan so I am treated just like any other Shinobi, for the most part. I am mostly its prison to keep it from harming the village."

Naruto grinned, "Though from my understanding of the system I hold the strongest of them and my seal is apparently one of the better designed ones that Ero-sennin knows about. So if I were to ever learn how to fully utilize my tenant's power then I could potentially become one of the strongest Shinobi alive. Though I would rather do that on my own without relying on the fuzzball."

Neji snorted as he said, "That is very you Naruto, though I have to wonder, since you contain the strongest, how many of these Jinchuuriki are there?"

Naruto looked up and said, "Well there can at most be nine from what I know as there are only nine Bijuu, though I don't know if they are all currently within a host or where these hosts are. I contain the strongest of the Bijuu, the Kyuubi no Kitsune that attacked our village 15 years ago. When the Yondaime went out to defend our village he knew that a being like the Kyuubi that is made entirely of Chakra could not be defeated so he sealed it inside of me on the day of my birth."

Naruto snorted before saying, "The ultimate irony is that despite the fact that he apparently wanted me to be seen as the hero that protects the village from the beast, I was shunned because of people's fear of me and what I contain. Though I have mostly gotten past that due to the awesome people I now consider my friends who have accepted me despite the fact that I am a hyperactive baka who is often too noisy for my own good."

At Naruto's cheesy grin and self-described vices Neji nearly laughed before he composed himself and said, "Well you were right about another thing it seems."

At Naruto's confused look he continued, "During our match at the exams, when I accused you of not knowing what it was like to be marked with a seal that set you apart. It seems I was just making a further fool of myself and at the time I was so mad at you for what you said after that. You told me you did and it didn't matter, then you told me that I was nothing special because of my situation. At the time I thought you were just being a baka and thought you being labeled as a failure was like me being sealed, but now I see that I was the one who was wrong. You did indeed know my pain even if I didn't realize it at the time."

Neji frowned as he pointed out, "And to top it all off, the fact that you were able to take all that and keep pushing forward without losing sight of your path is amazing. Whereas I fell to self-pity and anger when I found out about my unfair lot in life. Now I realize there are so many of these stories around, and sure some of them may be way worse than others, but that doesn't make anyone else's pain any less real. And it definitely seems that it takes someone with a very strong character to walk that path without falling to self-pity."

Naruto said, "It isn't like you knew about that at the time so don't worry about it. Sure I was frustrated at you for being a fate obsessed jerk, but honestly I was mostly full of crap when I claimed there was no way I was going to lose anyways. I wasn't sure if I could beat you at that point and using the Kyuubi's Chakra was a last ditch effort of mine since I couldn't think of anything else to do. I was being completely honest when I talked about fighting your fated role though and it still applies now dattebayo. Sure people like you and Gaara may have been lost at the time, but now that you are back on the right path you guys are some of the strongest people I know."

As Naruto began chuckling, Neji smiled as he said, "Regardless of the situation, you were right and because of that I have come a long ways from where I was. Everyone who you have managed to befriend has been touched in some way, though some like myself and Gaara were changed more because of our fights and subsequent friendship with you. Even if you aren't quite ready to be Hokage yet, you definitely have the charismatic nature of a born leader that will serve you well once you get there."

Naruto looked over at his friend as he grinned before saying, "Thanks Neji, I am glad that you are my friend, now if only I could reach the Teme like I reached the two of you. Ah well, thanks for listening to my story Neji, now I just need to tell your cousin Hinata. I just hope she doesn't act all strange while I talk to her. I know she has self-confidence issues, but I can't figure out why she is always so nervous around me. Anyways, it is late and I will just have to tell her tomorrow, see you around Neji."

As Naruto walked out of the room he didn't see his friend shake his head and mutter baka before taking on a contemplative look. Naruto walked out of the compound and began the journey back to his apartment though shortly before he reached the inner part of town he turned around and looked back at the trees before saying, "I know I can't sense you, but I know you are still there Kakashi-sensei. Why don't you come out and interact with others for once you scarecrow."

Naruto jumped slightly when he heard a voice from behind him say, "Mah. Naruto, no need to be so loud at this time of night, you might wake someone up."

At the disbelieving glare he said, "What?"

Naruto shook his head and replied, "Honestly sensei I know you were following me like before, there is no point in denying it, and it is late but it is only like dinner time, no one is actually asleep at this hour. Regardless though, do you want to join me at Ichiraku Ramen for dinner. I want to celebrate a bit even if I still have to do Hinata tomorrow and I don't feel like celebrating alone."

Naruto shivered as he swore he felt his sensei smirk before saying, "My Naruto, you and Hinata aren't even dating, how bold of you, I suppose there is something to celebrate after all, though you could sound a bit more excited about doing your friend."

Naruto chocked on air before he turned bright red and whined, "Kakashi-sensei! You know that isn't what I meant, why do you have to be such a pervert sensei. At least you aren't like Ero-sennin, always peeping at the hot springs, but you could at least stop with the comments and stop reading those trashy porn novels in public. Because of the two of you Ino accused me of being a pervert the other day 'tebayo."

Kakashi chuckled as he said, "Mah. Mah. Naruto, I was only kidding. I know you are too naïve to be 'doing' anybody."

Naruto huffed as he said, "I'm glad we got that cleared up Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi waited patiently for the response he knew was coming as they kept walking before he Eye Smiled™ as Naruto turned red from anger this time before shouting, "KAKASHI-SENSEI!"

As they continued on their trek to Ichiraku ramen Kakashi chuckled while Naruto grumbled about his no good perverted sensei who won't give him any respect. As they ate they continued to joke about various things and Kakashi congratulated him on having told almost everyone already before they finally left to go their separate ways for the night. As he walked Naruto smiled as he thought about all of his friends he had talked to so far before wondering how this last conversation was going to go down.

**This chapter was interesting to write, I have been sure I wanted to include that line from their fight in the Chuunin exam finals since I first started thinking about the reveals of the other members around chapter 3 of this story. The version I used comes from the English dub of Episode 62, the sub and manga have it basically the same but the dub version adds the small line about it setting them apart which I felt added a bit. As usual I hope that Neji stayed in Character for most of this, I know that he feels a connection with Naruto and feels that Naruto saved him from the path of fate obsession so I wanted to portray that here, but balancing that with his 'cool' exterior was a bit hard.**

**Anywho, with 4865 words this is apparently on par with the length of most of these chapters so that is good. Next we have Hinata to tell, this will definitely be an interesting one and hopefully I can pull it off, now I just need to find a way for them to have this conversation without Hinata being a stuttering fainting mess with her crush around for so long. With that we should be done with our reveals and we will move on with our wrap up chapters. I hope to get as much done as possible in the next few days as I will likely be unavailable to write much at all the week of 5/12-5/17 so onwards and upwards. Oh and please review.**


	11. To Faint or Not To Faint

**Tenten: I can't believe you took this long to do poor Hinata's chapter, how could you be so cruel to her.**

**Turmanarmo: Honestly Tenten, it was luck of the draw, at first I was just picking them randomly, but then after doing the first two I wanted to do a girl and I realized that due to the team structure I could just do boy, boy, girl and get everyone done. And of the three females I was most afraid to write Hinata since I wasn't sure how to do her justice.**

**Tenten: *hmpf* I suppose that is an acceptable reason, though it was still unnecessarily mean to her. Regardless, I suppose you want me to do the disclaimer now. This 'writer' does not own the story Naruto and if you honestly believe he does, then you aren't smart enough to be worth keeping around so could you please meet me in training field ten. I could use some live target practice.**

**Turmanarmo: *looks around nervously* Anywho, Thanks for reviewing, following, and favoriting and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.**

After waking up the next morning Naruto spent some time getting ready before he heard someone knocking on his bedroom window. He went over to investigate and found Kakashi-sensei crouched in his window. As he approached, his sensei said, "Yo! Naruto, are you ready to tell Hinata today?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head as he mumbled, "Yeah I guess, I just hope she isn't so shy like usual."

Kakashi eye smiled™ and said, "Well that is why I am here, Neji approached me this morning and asked if I would accompany you when you talked to his cousin. He wasn't able to do it himself since he had to train with Hiashi-san today but he wanted to make sure someone was there to help out just in case." _That or he is playing protector and wants to make sure Naruto and Hinata don't do anything, though with as Naïve as Naruto is I highly doubt anything will happen._

Kakashi continued, "Anyways, I sent word for Hinata to meet me today at training ground three and the time when she is supposed to be there is fast approaching."

Naruto looked suspiciously at his sensei, "Don't you mean it passed like three hours ago and the time you feel like showing up is fast approaching dattebayo."

Kakashi snorted before responding, "Mah. Mah. Naruto, I know to show up on time when something is important, so finish getting ready and let's head out."

Naruto scoffed as he grabbed his Ninja Sandals and his jacket before he donned both and jumped out the window after his sensei to head off to their destination.

When they arrived they found Hinata practicing her Juuken on a tree and Naruto proceeded to call out, "Hey Hinata, we are here, sorry if we are late."

Hinata froze when she heard Naruto's voice and stiffly turned around before stuttering out, "K-Kakashi-sensei you didn't say you w-were bringing N-Naruto-kun."

Kakashi eye smiled™ as he responded, "Oh, I didn't! How forgetful of me, Naruto has something to talk to you about and your cousin asked if I could be here since he couldn't"

Naruto scratched the back of his head as he said, "Yeah, sorry Kakashi-sensei didn't tell you why you are here. I really need to talk with you about something important and I can't put it off any longer."

Hinata blushed beet red as she took Naruto's statement the wrong way before promptly fainting and falling into the arms of Kakashi before being leaned against a tree. Kakashi chuckled as he said, "You really need to watch how you say things Naruto, it almost sounded like you were planning to confess your love for her or something."

Naruto choked as he said, "Oh that explains why she got so embarrassed and fainted. I would be embarrassed too if some weird girl I barely knew just confessed like that. I should apologize for making it seem like I am interested in her when she wakes up."

It took all of Kakashi's willpower not to face palm right then as he said, "I think it would be best if you just acted like nothing big happened when she got up. Don't make a big deal about her fainting and definitely don't apologize for appearing interested in her."

Naruto scratched the back of his head as he said, "I guess that makes sense Kakashi-sensei. I just hope she wakes up soon so we can get this over with."

After a few minutes Hinata finally stirred before standing up and stuttering out an apology for fainting before Naruto said, "No problem Hinata. Anyways I need to ask you a question to begin with, what do you know about the Bijuu?"

Hinata looked surprised before saying, "Well I know there are nine of them even though all record of them disappears shortly after they were captured by the Shodai, except on the rare occasion where one makes a reappearance to attack a village before disappearing again. Obviously the Kyuubi is one such case as it attacked 15 years ago before disappearing again."

In the background Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow at how much this girl knew before Naruto responded, "Yeah, all of that is true, though you know way more than most of our classmates do about the subject."

Hinata blushed slightly as she said, "W-well when we were younger I overheard a few people talking about the Kyuubi so I decided to look up what I could, but there isn't much information in the library and Ko never would tell me why they were talking about the Kyuubi when we had been told it was dead. I came to the conclusion that since the same beasts show up in records years apart something was being intentionally withheld but the only thing I could verify for sure was that the beasts never seemed to stay defeated or missing forever." _Though I suppose the fact that when I heard them bring up Kyuubi they were also talking about Naruto-kun was a reason why I looked as well, even if I never could find a connection to explain why they were talking about him._

Naruto looked impressed as he said, "Wow Hinata that is a pretty good theory, you are correct about the Bijuu coming back, since they are entities of pure chakra they cannot be destroyed in the traditional sense. After a period of time their Chakra reforms and they come back to this world. So to prevent that from happening the beasts were often sealed away. The times you read about where they showed back up are because they broke free of their seal or reformed if they had been defeated the last time they were free."

Hinata hummed before asking, "So how long until the Kyuubi reforms?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head as he said, "Well I will get to that part in a bit but first, what do you know about the Yondaime?"

Hinata looked confused before she replied, "Well he was considered a very controversial choice when he first took office. Despite his reputation as the Kiiroi Senko, he still seemed like a dangerous choice. He was clanless and young so many of the older clan members were worried about his ability to lead. The Shodai and Sandaime had been clan heads when they took the position and the Nidaime was trained as a clan heir due to the era he grew up in. So a civilian who wouldn't have been trained in all of the intricacies of running a clan seemed like a poor choice to run a village."

Hinata continued, "Despite that, he had plenty of experience leading, not only was he a Jonin-Sensei but he was also a respected commander during the war. And that was ultimately what got him the position. Sure many of the older members of the village were opposed to him, but in addition to Sandaime-sama's support he had also gained the respect of that generation's clan heirs who had begun to take over their respective clans. This meant that he had the vote of the Hokage and many of the clan heads, the clans that hadn't changed heads yet were still mostly supportive due to the opinions of their children. In addition to that he had the vote of the Jonin commander since he was respected by the Shinobi he had served on the front lines with."

Hinata laughed, "Apparently he even had the support of Daimyo-sama, though that was largely because he liked Minato-sama's sensei Jiraiya-sama. Honestly the only votes he was missing were the votes of the elder council of advisors, and apparently they were adamantly opposed to him."

When Hinata looked over at Naruto she noticed his gaping mouth before she blushed and said, "W-what?"

Naruto chuckled as he said, "First, how in the world do you know so much about the process he went through to become Hokage dattebayo? And second, I don't think I have ever heard you say so much at once or without stuttering before, I am impressed Hinata."

Hinata replied, "W-well Naruto-kun, I knew so much b-because Tou-san told me about it when I was younger because he respects the Yondaime so much. Despite the fact that he feels the Hyuuga clan are the best in the village, he says the Yondaime is proof that someone can become great despite their heritage. Some of it was also because I was interested after the story and I looked it up."

Hinata then blushed at Naruto's second comment since she was embarrassed that he had pointed out how she normally rarely spoke, and because he had complimented her for knowing so much and for speaking confidently. This caused her to smile before she fainted away.

At this Naruto looked exasperated as he said, "Aww man, and she was doing so good 'tebayo, why did she faint again Kakashi-sensei?"

Naruto looked around when he got no response only to notice his sensei was now crouching in front of the Memorial Stone seemingly ignoring the world around him. Naruto growled slightly as he marched over and attempted to punch his sensei in the head only to have his hand caught. When Kakashi turned around Naruto thought he saw some sadness in his visible eye before they returned to their normally bored state as he asked, "Did you need something Naruto?"

Naruto huffed as he said, "I was talking with Hinata when she fainted again, and I thought you were here to watch us, not the Memorial Stone. Why are you staring at it anyways, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi sighed as he replied, "I figured the two of you would be fine without me intruding, so I decided to pay my respects to some of my precious people who have passed on. What did you do this time to cause her to faint Naruto?"

Naruto pouted before saying, "What do you mean what did I do, we were just talking that is all dattebayo. I asked her what she knew about the Yondaime and she gave me this really awesome and detailed answer about how he became the Hokage and when I asked her how she knew all that and tried to compliment her for not stuttering she turned red, then smiled before fainting."

Kakashi chuckled at his naïve student before saying, "Well Naruto, it would seem she was somewhat embarrassed by the fact that you unintentionally pointed out how she normally stutters and that coupled with your compliments about her knowledge and her lack of stuttering seems to have embarrassed her into fainting." _The fact that these compliments came from you surely only aggravated her embarrassment._

Naruto looked confused, "Wait you mean she fainted from embarrassment again, is that why she usually faints? And here I was thinking it was some sort of illness."

Kakashi had to resist the urge to face palm from the naïve stupidity of his student before he drawled out, "Regardless, you should just wait for her to wake up like last time. Again, try not to mention her fainting or get too close to her when she wakes up."

Naruto nodded hesitantly before saying, "Okay, if you say so Kakashi-sensei. Say, you said you were paying your respects to your precious people, who all is on the stone for you?"

Kakashi considered not answering his student for a moment before he sighed as he said, "Well Naruto, I grew up during a time of war and was a part of Anbu so as you might guess I have quite a few comrades on here. However the main people I am here to honor are my teammates Obito and Rin, as well as Minato-sensei since they were precious to me."

Naruto looked somber before he said, "I know it sounds silly but I have a question … uhm, never mind."

Kakashi looked searchingly at his student before saying, "Naruto, first you can't just say something like that and take it back, that just makes me more interested in knowing what you were going to say. And second, whatever it is, you should never be too embarrassed to ask me about it."

Naruto smirked as he said, "Even if it were about, well you know."

At the over exaggerated eyebrow wiggle his student performed Kakashi chuckled before saying, "Even that Naruto, I am your sensei, you can ask me about anything, even sex, after all I was given the talk by Minato-sensei so it's not like it is something I wouldn't be able to talk with you about."

Naruto sputtered as he said, "Hey you aren't supposed to be like that, you're supposed to get all weirded out and you're definitely not supposed to start talking about it."

Kakashi smirked, not that Naruto could tell, before he said "Well Naruto it isn't like it wasn't going to happen eventually, I mean you are an orphan and you are definitely old enough, though I am surprised Jiraiya-sama didn't give you the talk. It is one of his favorite subjects after all, don't tell me he is too embarrassed to do it himself. So what do you want to know about? Sex, girls, or maybe something more personal like masturbation, or maybe you …"

Naruto turned bright red before shouting, "Kakashi-sensei! Shut up 'tebayo! First you can't just talk about that stuff in the open like this, what if Hinata had woken up and heard you, and second I already know all that stuff so you and Ero-sennin can just keep your gross perverted nonsense to yourselves."

Kakashi chuckled as he said, "Mah. Mah. Naruto, I was mostly messing with you, though if you haven't had the talk I can assure you that you don't know all this 'gross perverted nonsense' as you call it, unless Iruka-san or someone like that talked with you I think we may need to talk about this in the near future. Plus I think I would want to have the talk with you again if Jiraiya-sama had talked with you. As wise as he is, his version of the talk would have been much more, shall we say fantastical."

Naruto looked like he was about to protest before sighing, "I suppose I brought this upon myself by jokingly bringing that up in the first place. Anyways, I was going to ask something else before we got sidetracked there."

Kakashi chuckled before saying, "I kind of figured that and mostly said it since I knew it would embarrass you, after all even I was embarrassed when I got the talk. Though you should have seen his face when Minato-sensei found out I had never been informed. But anyways, we can have that talk later. So what was it you wanted to ask me?"

Naruto looked down before saying, "Okay, I guess I can ask, but only if you promise to give me a serious answer Kakashi-sensei." At his nod Naruto continued, "Well I was just thinking, Iruka-sensei had his parents killed by the Kyuubi, Jiji lost his wife the night of the attack, and you and Ero-sennin lost your sensei or student respectively when he sealed Kyuubi into me. So why didn't you guys hate me, I know I'm not the Kyuubi, but most of the other villagers and Shinobi avoided or hated me because I was the container of the being who killed their loved ones so why not you guys."

Kakashi's visible eye widened before he finally responded, "Well Naruto, that is a bit complicated, I would like to say it was because we never associated the Kyuubi with you but that isn't true. From what I know Iruka-san did resent you at first, it was getting to know you as his student that changed his heart. I can't speak for Jiraiya-sama or Sandaime-sama but I know I avoided you for a bit shortly after your birth until I came to my senses and realized you weren't to blame for anything that happened to sensei." _Though I didn't blame you because you were the Jinchuuriki, I blamed you because your birth caused the event, though I eventually realized it wasn't your fault any more than it was Sensei's that you were hated. Sure he sealed Kyuubi in you but he doesn't control their opinions just like you weakening the seal doesn't make you responsible for everyone's deaths._

Kakashi continued, "Plus you were such a fun baby to be around, even if I was just 14 at the time. Which thankfully meant I got out of the changing duty for a while until a female Anbu taught me how to do it. I suppose all we really needed was to get to know you and any possible doubts we had were wiped away. You should be proud, apparently I was a really grouchy and dark person at that time and I even had one Anbu tell me that the only time my presence was bearable for those first few years was when I was on Naruto detail."

Naruto snorted, "Naruto detail, that is what you called it. Also, I just can't see you as grumpy and dark, you make it sound like you were like Sasuke-teme."

Kakashi chuckled before saying, "Well at the time I suppose I was, and when we were growing up and while the team was still intact Obito would call me a teme all the time. You kind of remind me of him when I think about it, you are both over hyper dead lasts who have come a long way thanks to your hard work and you cared a lot for your precious people, though the similarities pretty much end there. Anyways you should stop talking with me and head over there, it feels like Hinata's chakra is waking back up so she will likely rouse soon."

Naruto nodded before walking over and waiting for Hinata to wake up. It didn't take long and once he reassured her that everything was all right he continue, "Well now that we are back, what were we talking about. Hmm, oh yes, you had just finished talking about the Yondaime's election, what else do you know about him, more specifically his skills I suppose?"

Hinata looked down before saying, "W-well he was called the Kiiroi Senko which was in reference to his speed and use of the Hiraishin since he was said to be so fast all you saw was a yellow blur as he flashed across the field. Outside of the Hiraishin it was said he rarely ever used any Ninjutsu except his Rasengan unless he needed to for whatever reason. Oh and he was also a master of Fuinjutsu, even greater than his master Jiraiya-sama. Outside of that I don't know much, apparently many expected him to just keep getting stronger from there and to eventually become the next Shinobi no Kami, though obviously that didn't happen since he died so young."

Naruto nodded before he said, "Again correct. Now I would like to point out something you said, since he was a master of Fuinjutsu how would he have likely fought the Kyuubi?"

Hinata blinked in surprise before saying, "Well based on what you said earlier Naruto-kun, it is possible that he sealed it, though where would he have sealed it, something like that would probably require some special container or seal I would guess."

Naruto smiled as he replied, "It requires both actually. As you can imagine the Chakra of the Kyuubi is both powerful and dangerous so it has to be kept somewhere special. Then, to keep it alive and prevent its Chakra from just leaking out over time and reforming, the seal needs to be very special. The best solution to both is to seal it within a child so that the leaked Chakra simply goes into the hosts Chakra system before being cycled back through and the seal can use the leaked Chakra and the host's Chakra to maintain itself."

Hinata gasped before saying, "T-that seems cruel even if it does seem to make some sense, but why does it have to be a child for the host?"

Naruto snorted as he said, "That would be due to the leaking Chakra, due to its dangerous nature it can harm the host unless their system is early enough in development that it can adapt to the stuff."

Hinata seemed outraged as she said, "But it would still hurt them at first and to maximize that adaptation you would want as young of a child as possible, why would anyone agree to put their child through that?"

Naruto frowned before saying, "Well I imagine some of the reasons differ, with some Jinchuuriki, which is what they are called by the way, the only goal is to make a weapon so they probably don't really care about the child in the first place I imagine. However with ours there was no need to worry about what the parents thought since the chosen kid was orphaned by the attack and I suppose the Yondaime might have been a bit busy with everything to worry about that at the time."

Hinata seemed to pause for a moment before saying, "Wait, you know who the Jinchuuriki is? How come, and now that I think about it, why are you telling me all this Naruto-kun, I always love to learn new stuff but I can't help but wonder why I am being told?"

Naruto laughed before saying," The reason you are being told is because the Akatsuki is after these Jinchuuriki. They have already gotten Gaara, who is the Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi by the way, and possibly a few others and they will eventually be after the Kyuubi as well. Due to this Tsunade-Baachan felt that you needed to be informed that they may soon be coming here. As to the reason I know who it is, that would be the same reason I was chosen to tell you, because I am that Jinchuuriki Hinata."

An awkward silence fell over the grounds for a moment before Hinata stuttered out something about 'it all makes sense now' and 'baka villagers' and several other things before she did what she does best and fainted.

At Naruto's loud, "Aww Man!" Kakashi appeared behind Naruto and said, "Well at least this time she fainted from being overwhelmed instead of being embarrassed."

At Naruto's loud humpf he continued, "You did a good job once again and once she gets back up you can answer some of her inevitable questions and we can call this a wrap."

Unlike previous times, once she regained her senses she did not apologize but asked, "Why does seemingly everyone but the people our age know this. I could understand keeping this a secret, but that would imply at least the villagers not knowing."

Naruto expanded, "Well that was Jiji's doing, he made it illegal for anyone to talk about my status with those who didn't already know about it. He told me the villagers weren't supposed to know, but someone told them without permission and so he added the law in as a way to give me a chance with my own generation."

Hinata looked indignant as she said, "Why should it matter to anyone anyways, you are you and the Kyuubi is inside of you not in control of you. So why does that make them hate you."

Naruto laughed dryly as he said, "I honestly don't know Hinata, I have been wondering that for years now myself. All I know is that eventually I will prove that to them and they will have to accept it and respect me. So, any other questions Hinata?"

She frowned as she pondered before saying, "None that I can think of at the moment, though I would like to say I am glad the Yondaime chose you, because I don't know if anyone else would be strong enough to keep going after all that you have been through. You are such a great person Naruto-kun and I am glad we are friends. So who all have you told so far?"

Naruto laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his head before saying, "Funny thing, you were kind of the last one I told, luck of the draw I suppose, I was going to tell you or Neji yesterday and he was the first one I found, though about half of them have either been set up by my sensei over there or happened because I just happened to run into that person."

Hinata seemed slightly embarrassed and depressed as she said, "Oh, well anyways, I should get home, I kind of want to talk with Neji for a bit once he is free. Bye Naruto-kun."

As Hinata wondered off Naruto turned to his sensei before slumping down on a nearby tree and saying, "Finally, I am done with this emotionally taxing reveal crap 'tebayo, now I just need to report to Tsunade-Bachan and see who all wants some follow up time to ask more questions they may have come up with."

Kakashi came over and messed with his hair before saying, "I can take care of reporting to Tsunade-sama, though you aren't quite done, you have three more people to tell, though I think it might be best if you did them as a group."

Naruto shot up as he said, "Wait, what, who haven't I told? I told Shikamaru, Shino, Ino, Lee, Choji, Tenten, Kiba with Akamaru, Neji, and Hinata dattebayo, that is everyone. Sai and Sakura already knew and teme found out on the mission, so who did I supposedly forget?"

Kakashi simply eye smiled™ before saying, "You will figure it out, just think about it." Then he suddenly disappeared with a Shunshin leaving Naruto to ponder who it could be. A few minutes later the birds in the clearing all flew off as he shouted, "Oh them, I had almost forgotten about those three, well off to find …"

**There we go, sorry that one took me a while, I just couldn't get Hinata to go anywhere. Seriously the first like three attempts at the chapter ended up either being oddly unrealistic or wound up less than 1500 words, or both. In the end I still had to include a bunch of Kakashi fluff to boost its length, though that part sort of just came to me while I was bored at work so there is that. Also as to the content of said fluff, I am sorry if that wierds any of you out, but it seemed like the natural progression of events from where it started, I don't know why my brain seemed to think that though.**

**Anywho at 4334 words this is another middle length chapter. Hopefully I managed to capture Naruto and Hinata's personalities and interactions well enough and hopefully you enjoy this. Please review if possible, and while you are at it, guess who you think is left to be told, I personally think I made it a bit too obvious, but then again I only realized that they had been left out of my mental count around Tenten's chapter.**

**The next chapter may be highly delayed since I will be out of my house for the next week or so and I am not sure whether or not there is any internet where I am going and the only thing I would have to type on anyways is my tablet. Anyways, back to writing and see what I am willing to do during this time.**


	12. Three for One Brats

**Turmanarmo: Hooray I got another chapter out despite the fact that I only have access to a tablet. I would have dropped it earlier but I was too tired to do much editing after I finished writing it last night.**

**Akamaru: *woof***

**Turmanarmo: Yeah I agree Akamaru, I think this story has gone pretty well. Hey did you figure out who the reveal is for this time?**

**Akamaru: *woof***

**Turmanarmo: Good guess Akamaru, you are absolutely right, I wonder if any of my readers figured it out. Anywho, thanks for all your reviews, favorites, and follows. I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Kiba: *huff huff* Finally made it *gasp* did I miss anything, okay I will do the disclaimer. The author doesn't own the manga and anime about my rival Naruto so please go support the official release. Also, since Lee and his team got a side manga anime release, you should also go tell the author that he should make a story about me and my teammates too.**

As Naruto walked back into the village proper he wondered where he might find the three Gaki. However, as luck would have it he heard a shout of "Oyabun!" from behind him and there stood Team Ebisu, though it would appear they had run off without said sensei since he was running towards them at the moment.

When he arrived Ebisu chided, "Konohamaru, you shouldn't just run off like that when we are on our way to a mission."

Naruto lightly punched Konohamaru on the head as he said, "Yeah Konohamaru, you shouldn't shirk your duties dattebayo, even if they are stupid D rank 'missions.' However, while you three run off to complete your chores, I'm sorry, I mean your mission, I need to ask your sensei something, so run along gaki."

After hearing the indignant shout of his 'rival,' and seeing the other two drag him away, Naruto continued, "So Ebisu-sensei, I was asked by Tsunade-Baachan to tell all of my friends about my 'burden', but since your team is not on a break this week I figured I would ask you for permission to steal them after your mission and any training you might have planned to talk with them about it."

Ebisu looked thoughtful before saying, "I have no objections to you talking with my students as long as it isn't to teach Konohamaru more of you disgraceful techniques. Regardless, I expect to be done with training around midafternoon so I will send them by your house around that time so you can talk with them Naruto-san."

Naruto nodded before he headed off towards home and doubled his pace when his stomach growled loudly, reminding him that he had yet to eat and it was nearly noon. He wasn't exactly sure what time midafternoon was, but he would find something to do around his house after he ate and wait for their arrival.

After eating a hearty lunch Naruto decided to do some of his cleaning that had begun to pile up. As he created a couple of Kage Bunshin they went about their various tasks to clean up the apartment. Once they had finished, it was about one in the afternoon so he decided to just lounge around until they arrived.

About an hour later he was awakened from his nap when there was a loud knocking on the door and as he expected, he found the students of team Ebisu standing at his door. He invited them in and they all sat on the couches in Naruto's, now clean, main room before Konohamaru started, "Ebisu-sensei said you had something to tell us Naruto-nii, when he said that, he also told us that what you had to say was important and that we should listen closely to whatever it is. Honestly, he kind of freaked us out with the way he said it, he almost sounded like you were dying or something. You are okay, right nii-san?"

Naruto snorted as he said, "Yes guys, I am perfectly fine, what I have to talk about has been a part of my life since I was born. Though I suppose the situation has become a bit darker since then, but you don't need to worry about that."

Moegi spoke up, "We are glad that you are okay Naruto-nii, but you can't blame us for worrying about you when you show up randomly and ask to speak to our sensei, only for us to find out you need to talk to us privately about something important."

Naruto scratched the back of his head before answering, "Well thanks for worrying about me guys, but before I start I kind of want to know what you guys have been up to recently. How has training with Ebisu-sensei been going?"

Udon replied, "It has been going pretty well, sensei has been showing us the different formations we will use and explaining their purposes, though today he also showed us how to do the first Chakra control exercise, leaf sticking. Moegi was able to do it on her third try and by the end of the day Konohamaru and I were able to keep the leaf on us without too much trouble."

Konohamaru pouted as he said, "Yeah, but Moegi was able to keep like a dozen leafs stuck to her by the end of the day while she was doing her exercises. We could barely get one while staying concentrated on it."

Naruto chuckled, "Oh I remember Chakra control exercises, though Kakashi had us start with tree walking. I remember Sakura-chan got it right away while the teme and I took a couple of days to finally be able to do it. Ebisu-sensei was actually the one who taught me water walking, though at the time I couldn't do it since my Chakra was all messed up. Chakra control is honestly still one of my weakest areas 'tebayo, besides of course Genjutsu."

Konohamaru looked skeptical before he said, "I still don't see why we need to do Chakra control exercises though. Sure tree and water walking are useful, but you just said you have poor control and you are still an awesome ninja so why is it so important."

Naruto looked contemplative for a moment before he responded, "Well, I wouldn't say it is unimportant, I know I am bad at it, but that doesn't mean I don't try and work on it a bit. My lack of control is a large part of the reason I can't do Genjutsu and I have trouble dispelling them. Plus I have had to work quite a lot to get it up to what it is now dattebayo, though I suppose I am a bit of a special case. Regardless of that though, you have been punched by Tsunade-Baachan, right Konohamaru?"

As he was about to object Moegi answered, "Yeah, he tried to call her Baachan like you always do, but she reacted rather violently to him attempting to do so."

Naruto laughed as he said, "Yeah she doesn't like being called old by anyone, she doesn't particularly like it when I call her Baachan either, but I think I am the only one she would let get away with it. Anyways my point is, what you felt is her natural strength, now using her perfect chakra control she can enhance her strength to such a point that she can crush mountains with her fist. But that is just one example of what it can do for you, good chakra control can also allow you to use medical Jutsu like Baachan and Sakura-chan which is a super useful ability. I honestly wish I could do some of that since it would be another way I could help protect my friends."

Udon looked intrigued as he said, "But why can't you? I know your control is poor, but can't you ever get it up to that point to learn those Jutsu?"

Naruto stopped for a second as he said, "Well that is an interesting idea. I don't know if my chakra control can ever get to the point Sakura-chan and Baachan have it, but it would be nice to get it to the point where I could at least do some low level ones and maybe do some field first aid, thanks Udon, that's a good idea. I will definitely ask Baachan or someone about that 'tebayo."

Konohamaru spoke up at this point, "Hey Naruto-nii, earlier you said that the reason you have horrible control was because you were a special case, what did you mean by that?"

Naruto looked confused for a second before he said, "Oh that, that is related to what we need to talk about, but I will get to that later. For now though I will just give you an example, I want all of you to completely unsuppress your chakra so I can show you something."

They all looked at each other for a second before shrugging and forming the ram sign to charge up their chakra to its maximum. Naruto nodded before saying, "Okay, as I expected Konohamaru has the most Chakra of the group because of his Sarutobi lineage. Udon is a close second though which is awesome, once you guys get your chakra under control and assuming you keep building your capacity you two can be pretty good with Ninjutsu since you won't wear yourselves out after only a few Jutsu."

Naruto added, "Moegi is a bit different, your chakra is definitely lower than the other two, though yours is at least a bit higher than Sakura-chan's was at this age so that is good. Based on what they said earlier about how well you did at the chakra control exercise earlier and assuming you continue to grow your capacity as well you could definitely be a great third member for your team, you could go the medic route and heal them as they get injured like Baachan and Sakura-chan. You could also be a Genjutsu specialist like Kurenai-sensei and make openings for them to use or cover your escape if you need to get out."

Naruto looked thoughtful before shouting, "Oh and you could also be like Tenten and Lee and specialize in low chakra combat, either close or long range and with or without a weapon. Of course there are probably other options I can't think of, but the point is don't let a low chakra pool keep you down. Now let me show you something."

Naruto began to charge his chakra for a few seconds before he stopped and the three in front of him looked impressed as Konohamaru said, "Wow Oyabun, you have nearly twice as much chakra as me, you are so cool."

Naruto chuckled as he said, "Thanks I guess guys, but having too much chakra can be as much of a blessing as it is a curse. Udon, you have about as much chakra as I had when I first had my Chakra unlocked in the academy. What you sense now is about what I had when I joined team seven." After a few more seconds of charging up Naruto said, "This is my chakra now."

Moegi was the first one to break out of her shock and responded, "n-Naruto-nii that is insane, you have way more chakra than all of us combined. How is that even possible?"

Naruto laughed and scratched the back of his head before saying, "I was born with a large capacity, based on what I have been told, if it weren't for some special circumstances that artificially boosted my reserves I would have likely still had way more chakra than most, just not quite in this level. Anyways, let's move on to what we need to talks about, do any of you know what a Bijuu is."

Both Udon and Moegi nodded and Udon said, "It is a creature made of chakra that is made entirely of chakra, though the only one I have ever actually heard of was the Kyuubi that attacked our village before we were born."

At this Konohamaru shouted, "Of course we know what a Bijuu is, Naruto-nii, but what does that have to do with anything."

Naruto snorted as he said, "If you will wait I will explain why it is important dattebayo. Okay so you know what a Bijuu is, so since they are made entirely out of Chakra, how did the Yondaime defeat the Kyuubi?"

The kids looked confused for a second and looked around hoping one of the others would know the answer but no one did so Moegi said, "We're not sure, but he obviously did somehow, otherwise the village would be destroyed."

Konohamaru huffed as he said, "Honestly, why is it important, the Yondaime was strong enough to defeat it, why does it matter how."

Udon answered, "Well Konohamaru, as you should remember, Chakra cannot be created or destroyed. Since the Kyuubi is made entirely of chakra Naruto-nii is asking how he defeated it and by extension, if he did kill Kyuubi, what happened to its Chakra, right?"

Naruto nodded before answering, "Correct Udon, with a Bijuu, death is not the end, whenever one is destroyed it simply disperses and eventually the chakra reforms and they can once again roam our world. Thankfully for us the Yondaime was a master of Fuinjutsu so he was able to seal the Kyuubi away so that we wouldn't have to worry about it escaping again."

Konohamaru snorted as he said, "Wow, that sounds so much more lame than thinking he actually defeated it, what did he do, seal it into some sealing scroll, and if it is so simple then why did he die fighting it, honestly that just makes him sound lame."

After she whacked Konohamaru on the head Moegi replied, "Honestly Konohamaru, do you ever pay attention, Fuinjutsu is so much more complicated than just sealing scrolls. Plus to seal something like the Kyuubi would be difficult I would assume, and even if you could seal it into a scroll, I imagine getting him into position so you could run Chakra through him and into the scroll to seal him would be complicated as well."

Naruto laughed as he responded, "She is right you know, to seal something like a Bijuu you require a special seal and a special container, though not all seals work quite like a sealing scroll. A great example of this is that diamond on Tsunade-Baachan, it is a seal that she can store a massive amount of chakra in and when she releases it she becomes insanely strong and nearly immortal for a short time. Another example I know of is this seal I can't remember the name of that Orochimaru-teme used on me one time that sealed off a bunch of my chakra 'tebayo. I am sure, just like the other Jutsu types, Fuinjutsu can offer a wide range of possibilities for use."

Naruto sighed before saying, "Regardless, as I mentioned, the Yondaime knew when he went out to fight the Kyuubi that the only sure way to defeat it would be to seal it. There are very few people in this world who can go toe to toe with an unrestrained bijuu by themselves and live to tell the tale to be honest. Supposedly the Kyuubi is the strongest of the nine Bijuu so there is that to consider as well."

Konohamaru sighed before saying, "Well when you explain it like that it makes it sound better, so what did the Yondaime do with Kyuubi then?"

Udon continued, "Yeah, you said that it takes a special seal and container to hold a Bijuu. By the way you worded that it makes it seem like they have done this with others. Also, how many of these Bijuu are there, I have only ever heard of the Kyuubi."

Naruto nodded as he said, "Yeah it is something that has been done before, and apparently the Shodai was the first one to seal a Bijuu. At first he sealed it with his Mokuton ability since it had the ability to suppress chakra, especially that of a Bijuu. However that was not a permanent solution since he wouldn't be able to hold them forever. I wasn't told too many details about how they figured it out, but they found out that if you wanted to keep the Bijuu sealed for an extended time, you needed to seal them inside of a human."

As all of them gasped Moegi said, "Seal it inside someone, but why does it have to be inside someone?"

Naruto grimaced as he said, "Well it had to be inside someone because the Chakra is highly corrosive and it can destroy its container. However with a human the corrosion is reduced as the leaking Chakra mixes with the hosts Chakra thus protecting them from most of the damage, and the rest of it is repaired by the body's natural healing. The person they are sealed I is called a Jinchuuriki and there are two main types. There is the type that we in Konoha use where the beast is sealed in the host for storage purposes largely, though the seal is designed to hold the beast back but still be used if the host needs to such as when their life is endangered."

Naruto sighed as he said, "The other type is when the beast is sealed inside of them to be used as a weapon. With these the seal is designed to allow the host to actively draw on the power with as few limitations as possible to maximize the amount of damage they can do in battle dattebayo."

Konohamaru looked confused as he asked, "But why don't we do that as well, if the Jinchuuriki already has the beast in them, why not teach them how to use the power so they can be crazy powerful?"

Naruto looked over as he said, "Well Konohamaru that sounds good in theory but there is one issue. When the Chakra of the Bijuu is drawn its consciousness is drawn with it and the Bijuu have an insane amount of potency to their will so it takes a lot of effort to maintain control of your body while also battling and trying to control how much chakra you are taking in from the seal. Now imagine this, if you lose concentration for long enough to let the Bijuu affect you then they influence your emotions so much that you lose all sense of yourself and become an enraged animalistic violent beast. Imagine if for some reason you lost control like that and accidentally ended up hurting Udon or Moegi, how would that make you feel Konohamaru."

Konohamaru looked upset as he said, "I would never hurt my friends, I have a strong enough will that I could keep it in check and still use its power."

Naruto sighed, "It is nice to think that Konohamaru, but you can't imagine how hard it is to keep that level of control while using that power. Imagine you are fighting someone super strong and they have one of your friend's captive and are threatening and taunting you that they will hurt your friend so you fight them. Now this person is so strong that you have to draw on these powers to fight them and actually have a chance of winning. Do you think you could go for a drawn out battle and not get distracted by combat or so enraged by him taunting you about your friend that you could avoid letting it take control to get your vengeance?"

Konohamaru huffed as he said, "Why don't you think I could do it Naruto-nii I know it would be hard but I would never hurt my friends. I am sure that I would be able to do it."

Naruto looked sad as he asked, "Okay let's put it this way then, Konohamaru do you think I could do it, could I maintain control if I was fighting Orochimaru and he was taunting me about Sasuke-teme?"

Konohamaru scoffed as he said, "Of course Nii-chan, you are super strong. I know that you would be able to overpower the Kyuubi's influence and avoid hurting your friends. But why did you ask that Naruto, you know I respect you and as much as I wish I were as good as you I know you are stronger than me for the most part so that question was pointless."

Naruto smiled as he said, "Thanks Konohamaru, however you can't imagine how wrong you are. The reason I asked it that way is because it actually happened. I am the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi and during our last mission we fought Orochimaru and sometime during the fight I ended up hurting Sakura-chan."

Silence fell over the clearing before all three kids simultaneously said, "What!"

Naruto glanced at them before saying, "You all heard right, I am the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki for Konoha. You have no idea how powerful a Bijuu is or how much control he can exert over me when I use his chakra. Because of this I have decided to stop using the chakra altogether just to avoid that sort of thing happening again."

Udon was the one to say, "So this is what you came here to tell us, that you are the Jinchuuriki. That certainly wasn't something I had considered. I have a question though, why isn't this something that was taught to us in the academy. Is it some sort of big village secret or something, and if so why are you telling us?"

Naruto snorted as he said, "Honestly if you had guessed that I would be a bit concerned. As to why you don't know, it is because it is considered a village secret but not for the reason you think. They don't tell you so that you won't be afraid of me. It is largely to give me the chance to befriend people without them coming in thinking I am some sort of monster, weapon, or freak for containing the Kyuubi."

Moegi spoke up, "I suppose that makes sense, but then why ever tell anyone? Or rather, why tell us?"

Naruto smiled at this one and said, "The whys are twofold. First it is because Tsunade-Baachan asked me to tell my friends about it since the group Akatsuki is hunting Jinchuuriki for their Bijuu. The second reason is because I finished my friends from my age group and I realized that even if she obviously didn't mean for me to tell you guys since she didn't give you the week off like those my age, I still wanted to tell you because you are my friends and I wanted you to know."

All of a sudden they heard Konohamaru mutter, "So that was why." Which prompted a "What?" from the rest of the group.

Konohamaru looked up and said, "Oh sorry, I was thinking and I realized that when we first became rivals you told me that you wanted to become the Hokage just like me to gain the respect of the villagers but I never could quite figure out why they didn't respect you. Now I know why, they know for some reason don't they? Why did Hiruzen-jiichan let them know but not let us know?"

Naruto sighed as he said, "Yeah, the whole village found out about my status shortly after my birth and due to the fact that they reacted negatively towards me Jiji decided that it would be best to prevent those who hated me from giving their children a reason to hate me by telling them I was a demon. He knew they would never properly explain that I was simply the jailor for the Kyuubi as opposed to its reincarnation."

Udon spoke up next and said, "So you had the Kyuubi sealed in you on your birthday, wow that is horrible, when did you first find out about it?"

Naruto laughed as he said, "Yeah, it is a pretty crappy birthday present but oh well. As to when I learned about it, since I didn't know about it at first either, Jiji's law applied to people telling me as well. He was intending to tell me on the night of my graduation but due to some particularly nasty events he ended up being beaten to that by Mizuki-teme who told me about it just before I graduated, though he told me I was the demon and was only telling me as a way of distracting me while he tried to kill me dattebayo."

Moegi looked up and asked, "But why weren't you told about it until then, surely you deserved to know your own secret."

Naruto snorted as he said, "You know I asked the same thing at the time and what Jiji told me made a lot of sense. Imagine if you were told as a young child that you were containing a giant demon fox that destroyed a lot of the village and was the reason that everyone seemingly hated you? Regardless of any explanation that might be a hard one to deal with."

They all remained silent for a bit before collectively saying, "Oh."

Naruto continued, "Yeah that was my response at the time to 'tebayo. Regardless of all that though, do you have any more questions for me because if not I will probably let you guys go so you can get home for the evening."

When they all shook their heads they parted ways and went home to think about what they had heard. Naruto sighed as he sat down on his couch and thought about all of the things that had happened over the last couple of days. He had managed to tell 12 people about his darkest secret and not one of them had abandoned him over this. As he had said to Shikamaru on that first day, he had never been so glad to be wrong in his life. As far as he knew there was no one else to tell, he had told all of his same age and year up friends, he had told team Ebisu, all of the adults knew about it, and he couldn't think of anyone else that he knew that lived in the village that needed to know.

That was it then, he had finally told them all, now he just needed to see if any of them had any follow up questions since some of them had gotten different details and since they had not been given time to let it all sink in until now. He knew that he had been in and out of Jiji's office for the first few days after he had first found out so he imagined it might be the same here. So it was settled, tomorrow he would go around and let them know that he was done with reveals and that he would be able to talk with them if they had more questions. And with that thought he headed down to his kitchen to eat before he went to bed thinking of all of his friends and how they made his life so much better.

**Yes I finished this finally, I typed this whole thing using a tablet keyboard during some free time on our trip, thankfully there was plenty of driving time which gave me some time to type this up. I have checked it three times through for errors and so I hopefully managed to catch most of the ones created by typing on a touch screen and by the fact that when using said touch keyboard word uses autocorrect.**

**At 4371 words this one managed to be another decent length chapter and unless I am mistaken I am done with reveals. I am going to do some wrap up stuff in the next 1 to 3 chapters depending on ideas and stuff, also if this chapter turns out to have a bunch of issues I might reupload it after I get home this weekend. Anywho, please review and if you have any ideas about things to do during the wrap up, please share. I already plan to have some of them come back, probably in groups, and ask some follow up questions, but everything else is in flux in my head. No guarantee I will add your suggestion, but if it matches with my idea for this story I might. Anywho, back to my trip and maybe a bit of writing.**


	13. Questions, Answers, and Planning

**Kakashi: Sorry I'm late, you see I had to … wait where is the author? Hmm, considering the fact that I am already several hours late I am just going to do the disclaimer and head back to the Memorial stone. The author does not own the story about my cute little student, but I suppose since he has let me poke fun at Naruto a couple of times it might be worth reading this story. Hopefully I didn't do this for nothing.**

**-Two weeks later-**

**Turmanarmo: Sorry, sorry. I meant to get here sooner but I ended up getting busy over the last two weeks. Wait what is this, a note? Oh it looks like Kakashi was here a while back and already did the disclaimer, well as usual thanks for reviewing/following/favoriting and I look forward to seeing what you think of this one.**

As Naruto awoke the next morning he wondered what all his friends were doing today and decided he would go talk with them after a quick breakfast. As Naruto sat down to breakfast he considered who to go talk with first before he decided to just see who he found first and dug into his breakfast.

**-Meanwhile-**

Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji were sitting around a table as Shikamaru said, "So why exactly am I here at this troublesome hour. Is there any reason we couldn't have had this meeting later in the day."

Ino scoffed as she said, "No Baka, you wanted to talk with Naruto when he was done with his reveals and if my sources are correct then he finished sometime yesterday and since he hasn't done so yet he will likely come to us today. Plus we ended up being busy yesterday and Choji hasn't had a chance to talk about this with us without Naruto around yet so we should do it now."

Choji chuckled before saying, "Yeah come on Shikamaru, it isn't that bad, and at least you aren't at home doing any chores. When I talked with him Naruto didn't leave a terribly large number of my questions unanswered, but there were a few things I found interesting that I wanted to talk about."

Ino nodded as she pointed out, "See, Choji has some things to talk about just like I did. So what did you want to talk about Choji?"

Choji grinned as he said, "Well, there are several things I want to talk about, but first I want to know what it was like to meet the Kyuubi since Naruto said he showed it to you."

Ino looked contemplative for a moment before she said, "Hmm, there wasn't much that happened while we were there, I was largely in shock while we were in the same room and so they did most of the talking. The Kyuubi was very condescending when he spoke. During the short time they spoke the Kyuubi mentioned that he hates Humans in general, but he seems to hate Uchiha in particular. He only really mentioned one other thing besides the people he hates, when he told us to leave him alone he said we could stay if Naruto let him out. Naruto responded somewhat sarcastically to this but left shortly afterwards anyways."

Shikamaru looked over as he said, "You didn't mention this the other day, why didn't you tell me that you got to see the Kyuubi, I'm not sure whether I should be envious or not. As interesting as meeting the Bijuu would be I imagine the experience wouldn't be that enlightening."

Choji nodded and said, "Yeah, that is an interesting thought, I am not sure whether or not I would want to meet Naruto's Bijuu. I am kind of sad that you didn't learn more from meeting him though, but oh well. So is there anything else you found particularly interesting about your talks with him guys?"

As they glanced at one another Ino decided to say, "Well, when we first entered his mindscape it was a sewer, and despite the fact that that area is largely a manifestation of the seal, I still think it is based on Naruto's mental health. Now he has a room that is more akin to what I expect in a mind of someone like him but that still makes me wonder just how bad he had it as a kid. He mentioned that the paint scheme in the room showed his happiness at that time in his life and the part of the room near the beginning of his life was so dull you could barely tell it was orange."

Shikamaru nodded and pointed out, "That is consistent with what I remember of him during our early years. I don't remember seeing him very often until we started in the academy but the few times he did appear in the village or at the playground I remember wondering what he had done wrong to get every parent glaring at him. When we were talking he didn't really say much about his childhood besides confirming what I had already known."

Choji hummed and said, "Yeah he also slightly mentioned his childhood but didn't go into too much detail about it. I wonder what all he went through as a kid, I mean all he did when talking with us was confirm something we already knew, that he was neglected and most of the adults hated him. Did any of them act on that hatred more than just yelling at him and kicking him out of shops like that one mask salesmen we saw a long time ago?"

Ino looked concerned as she said, "Honestly there would be no way of knowing without asking him and I doubt he would want to talk about any of that, even if it might be good for him to talk about his traumatic childhood. Regardless, even though I don't remember much about Naruto as a kid I do think the scorn and neglect alone could be plenty to cause his mind to fall so far. Think about it this way, you know that feeling you get when someone scolded you as a kid or when you could feel someone looking at you because of some mistake you made right? Well imagine feeling that all the time, based on what you guys remember he was actively being hated by most of the village up until about the time of the Chuunin exams."

Choji looked horrified before responding, "That would be devastating, and when you combine that with the fact that he told me that he pranked to receive attention. He preferred the hatred and scorn from the villagers to them ignoring him and he was willing to receive a scolding from the two people he respected most, Iruka-sensei and Sandaime-sama if it meant having more time with them."

Shikamaru nodded and said, "Yeah he mentioned something similar to me, that he pranked partly to get more time with the Sandaime and Iruka since they were often too busy to spend a lot of time with him. To think that he would actively seek out that sort of troublesome attention. You are definitely right Ino, with or without any sort of physical abuse, the emotional abuse alone inflicted on Naruto by the village must have taken a huge toll."

Ino snorted as she added, "That is the understatement of the year. Honestly as devastating as Physical abuse can be, the emotional type can be so much worse. I still think we should do something to get back at the villagers for all they have put the loveable baka through. I think we should do some sort of show stopping prank like he used to do."

Shikamaru sighed as he said, "Honestly, why must you be so troublesome. First off, as I said last time, I don't think Naruto would want us to do anything too troublesome to the village, despite what they did to him. And second, unless we made it obvious who the masterminds behind the prank were Naruto would just end up getting blamed for it anyways which wouldn't help his situation any."

The three of them jumped as they heard a voice speak from above them, "Don't forget the third reason Shikamaru, you don't want to get scolded by your parents for being so 'troublesome' Dattebayo."

As they looked up they all saw Naruto hanging from the ceiling grinning like mad at them before he dropped down and righted himself between Choji and Shikamaru and added, "Though I must agree that getting vengeance of any kind on the villagers is unnecessary, my pranks have always been for three main purposes. One, to get attention from both the villagers and Jiji. Two, for my own personal entertainment. And three, as a way of practicing my stealth skills, sure I don't use them very often because I am such an upfront person, but being able to sneak around and pull these pranks in a village full of Shinobi is a challenge I could not pass up."

Shikamaru snorted as he said, "I sometimes wonder how good of a Shinobi you could be if you had the patience to apply those stealthy skills of yours in missions."

Naruto grinned wider as he responded, "I could do that, but I like my way so much more, and I can be sneaky and quiet on a mission if it requires it, I just haven't been on many missions where it is required. Oh and Ino, I totally love the idea of doing a massive prank on the village, but I want to be a part of it to see if I still have what it takes. Though if we do something like that I totally want to involve all of the Konoha 11 so we can make it a prank to end all pranks 'tebayo."

Choji grinned as he slapped Naruto on the back and said, "That sounds like a great idea Naruto, I am definitely game if you can get the others to agree to it. Anyways, why are you here Naruto, was Ino right and you finished telling people yesterday."

Naruto nodded and said, "Yeah I did the last few yesterday, and I figured we could have a sort of Q and A since you have all had a few days to process what you found out and might have a few more questions."

Naruto looked slightly grim as he turned to Ino and said, "To answer your first question, No I was never physically abused as a kid by the villagers. The closest they ever came to that was shoving me on to the ground as they kicked me out of their shops. Though I suppose their children did often beat me up while they bullied me since I usually mouthed off to them when they tried to talk down to me. Regardless though I started to get over all of that when I befriended you guys. I know I am still working on some of it, but I have come a long ways from the attention whore I was as a kid."

Ino gaped a few seconds and asked, "Wait, how long were you spying on us Baka?"

Naruto grinned mischievously and said, "Well I don't really consider it spying since you are talking about me, but I came in right when Choji was talking about the mask salesman that he and Shikamaru saw throw me out of a shop as a kid. So do you guys have any other questions to ask now that you have had some time to think about things?"

They all looked thoughtful before Shikamaru spoke up, "Well before anything else I suppose I should ask, was I right, did all of your friends understand and accept you despite your troublesome secret."

Naruto looked like he was pouting for a second before he broke out in a shy smile and said, "Yeah, everyone was surprised but no one seemed to hold it against me. It makes me insanely happy that I was wrong about you guys 'tebayo, but I still feel bad both for doubting you and for basically throwing a tantrum in Baachan's office."

Choji smiled and added, "That is good to hear Naruto, I am glad everything turned out all right. I thought of a question though, while we were talking you mentioned that you decided to stop using the Kyuubi's power because he tries to control you when you do. The way you said it made it sound like it has happened so I was wondering if you could tell us what forced you to use enough to get taken over. I know I shouldn't underestimate the power of the Kyuubi, but you have a crazy strong will so he must have a lot of control to be able to actually take you over."

Naruto looked grim as he said, "Well technically it is from an accumulated experience over the handful of years I have actually used his power. The first time I used it unintentionally during our first C-rank mission when my life was in danger and I had thought Sasuke had been killed. My anger was amplified insanely when I drew on the power, though the control was so minimal that I easily dropped that anger a short while later."

Naruto hummed as he continued, "The next few times I used it I used a similar amount so the control was fairly small and I could manage, but when I fought the Teme at the Valley of the End I ended up having to draw a bit more due to the wounds he gave me which amplified my anger quite a bit, though I didn't really think about it at the time since I was already so angry at him for being such a baka and leaving us."

Naruto ducked his head as he continued, "I didn't use it very many more times until my trip with Ero-sennin while he was training me to control the power. Though in testing it he had me intentionally draw on increasingly more and more power until I grew outraged over the simplest things and it fueled me to take it farther than I could control and I eventually lost consciousness and according to what I was told, I became a rampaging animal until he managed to subdue me."

Naruto sighed as he said, "I have only gone that far one other time, on this last mission to retrieve Sasuke. I grew enraged when Orochimaru started taunting me about Sasuke and talking like he owned the Teme, so I pulled on that power again so I could fight him, I figured it would be safe since I would have somewhere to focus my anger but I ended up taking it too far again and lost control. For most of the fight it worked and I apparently managed to push Orochimaru around for quite some time, but after a while the Chakra ended up lashing out at Sakura-chan when she tried to talk me down before Yamato-taichou could suppress the Kyuubi Chakra."

All of the others looked concerned at this information before Ino said, "So that is what that burn on forehead's shoulder was from, I wondered why she hadn't healed it yet, I suppose that Chakra is probably pretty poisonous and is making it harder for her to heal."

Shikamaru sighed as he said, "Well that is certainly concerning and I think you made the right decision to not use his power anymore. Until you can suppress the control he exerts over you it sounds like the risks outweigh the benefits with this. I am just glad that this Yamato was around before you accidentally did more damage to Sakura. I am also thankful that you have enough control to keep him at bay the rest of the time. Even if you can't contend with the full will of a Bijuu yet, it is still impressive that you can overpower it at all, that speaks wonders for how powerful your own will is."

Naruto looked up shocked at the unexpected praise and was surprised to see the agreeing nods from Ino and Choji before Shikamaru spoke again, "Don't be so surprised Naruto, we know you didn't mean to do it and we know you would never willingly hurt your friends, plus you said you wouldn't use his power again until you could do so without fear of being controlled and as everyone knows, you never go back on your word. Regardless, I have a question to ask, you mentioned that Gaara was the Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi. I was wondering why he was so influenced by his beast when we first met him and yet since then he seems to have been in near complete control over himself, why is that?"

Naruto sighed before saying, "First, I don't think I mentioned Gaara's status to Choji, so that must be news to him. Anyways, there are several factors that influenced Gaara's early life that were different than mine. The most obvious one is the fact that Gaara was treated similarly to me as a child but he also had been told what he contained early on and all of the children knew as well. Also, due to his sand defense many of their village openly feared him as well as hated him. After a time he was apparently deemed a failure as a weapon by his father the Kazekage and that was when the assassination attempts started. At around the time that I was making my first connection outside of Jiji with Iruka-sensei, Gaara was being condemned by his own father and that same father tried to have him killed. To top it all off according to Ero-sennin Gaara has a really weak seal that allows the Ichibi to have at least a low level of control at all times."

Shikamaru shook his head as he said, "Yeah, I kind of figured all of that, I vaguely remember our confrontation with Gaara in the hospital and I seem to remember him saying something about his village wanting him to stop existing. It all makes a lot more sense in retrospect."

Naruto nodded as he said, "Yeah it wasn't pretty at all. Since then Gaara has managed to gain control over his life through sheer force of will. He now cares about others and has managed to become the Kazekage which shows how far he has come."

Naruto hummed before turning to Ino and asking, "I'm not sure if you guys have any other questions or not but I just thought of something, you never really responded to having met the Kyuubi in my seal and I was wondering how that went for you. I know not much happened since he wasn't in a very talkative mood but I was still kind of worried about how that affected you."

Ino laughed before saying, "Choji asked basically the same thing when we started and as I told him I didn't really learn much except that the Kyuubi seems to hate everyone, though he especially hates, the Uchiha, and anyone who tries to seal or control him. I know it was a bit overwhelming at the time but I will be able to deal with it. I honestly would be more concerned about you, can you hear his voice at all times or just when you go into your seal?"

Naruto looked thoughtful as he said, "Well Ero-sennin talked like my seal should allow him to talk to me at any time, but I should be able to mute him if I don't want to listen as long as I am outside the seal. Though I don't really recall very many times where he has talked to me outside of when I came to the seal. I figure it is largely because he just doesn't want to talk to me since he isn't overly fond of me as I am his container dattebayo."

After this the three members of Team Ten looked back and forth at each other before Shikamaru said, "Well that is all we can think of that we haven't already worked out ourselves, I mainly wanted to see how you were doing after your reveals were done. Oh and I suppose I am in for the troublesome mega prank idea you have if you can get the others along as well. See you later Naruto."

At this Naruto bid them farewell and left the house to hunt down some more of his friends to talk with. He was kind of surprised they had so few questions, but he supposed that they had managed to answer most of them by comparing what they were told and if they came up with any more they could always ask later. Now he just hoped that finding the others would be as easy as finding those three had been.

**-Elsewhere-**

Neji, Tenten, and Lee sat in a training field leaning against some trees when Lee said, "Yosh I am glad to see you taking such youthful initiative Neji, but why did you call this meeting today?"

Neji snorted as he replied, "Well Lee, I figured that since Naruto should be done telling everyone about his secret you guys might want to talk about what you heard. We can compare what we were told and that may help to answer any questions we might have had, plus if we come up with something none of us know we can find Naruto and ask him as a group."

The other two nodded before Tenten said, "That makes sense, while we were talking Naruto spent most of the time talking about the seal for a Jinchuuriki and the different type's one could make. Honestly it was kind of fun to talk with someone who knew about as much about seals as me and to talk about different options like that. I have a few questions and thoughts, but first I want to know how he told you two."

Lee was the first to respond by saying, "After we had a youthful spar Naruto asked me what I knew about Chakra conservation and what I knew about the Yondaime. Once I was done he told me how the Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi inside him and we talked a bit from there, what about you Neji?"

Neji hummed before saying, "Well he was interested in how I saw his chakra system through my Byakugan and he wanted to know how it perceived the Kyuubi's Chakra. After showing me the Chakra and receiving my report he explained that the chakra came from an entity stored in a seal on his stomach, then he used Gaara as an example to explain the Jinchuuriki system to me before informing me that he contained the Kyuubi. Honestly of all the things I learned about him from the conversation, it mainly served to reinforce my opinion that he has a will and strength of character that far exceed most normal people. I wonder sometimes how he can stay so firm in his resolve."

Lee nodded as he replied, "Yes, I agree that Naruto-kun has a powerful Will of Fire. He explained to me that it was all of us, his precious people, that fuels him onwards and makes him want to do everything in his power to protect us and this village we share."

Tenten nodded and added, "Yeah, he mentioned with me that the reason it took him so long to tell us all was because he was afraid of weakening our bonds, but I wonder if maybe having all of us accept him has done just the opposite and strengthened these bonds, which by extension will only serve to further strengthen his Will of Fire."

Neji smirked as he said, "Well why don't we just ask him? You can't hide from me Naruto, even without my eyes active I can sense you when you get that close."

Naruto came out from behind a tree at the edge of the clearing and said, "Aww but I wanted to see what you guys had to say about me Dattebayo. I only got to hear a little bit before you called me out Neji. Oh well, to answer that question, yeah I think this experience has done a lot to strengthen my bonds with you guys and I am so glad that is the case. So since I am here, any questions from you guys, the Ino-Shika-Cho only had a few to ask, so what about you guys?"

Lee responded first by asking, "Well I don't have too many questions but the main one I wanted to know was regarding Gaara. I know you mentioned he was treated so unyouthfully as a child which surely influenced how he acted, but was he just insane as a child or was it his Bijuu that was the voice that was demanding blood?"

Naruto looked contemplative for a bit before he said, "I suppose it could have been either. I think he was at least partly insane at that point but I do know that the Ichibi could constantly talk to him so it very well could have been the voice telling him to kill things. I never actually asked Gaara about that since we have never really had many chances to interact and when we do we are usually busy on missions. It also didn't help that Gaara was seen exclusively as a weapon by his father and apparently the one other person who was willing to show him any love ended up turning on him later so in the end he had no one."

Tenten interrupted, "Actually Naruto that brings up something I have been wanting to ask you. You say Gaara was thought of as a weapon and when we were talking about the seals you mentioned that weaponizing was a reason why the seals were developed to what they are now. So why weren't you trained like Gaara apparently was to be a weapon."

Naruto looked over and nodded as he said, "Well that largely has to do with the fact that the Yondaime, Sandaime-Jiji, and Godaime-Baachan never saw me as that weapon. According to Ero-sennin there are a few people in the village who think I should have been turned into a mindless weapon for the village but thankfully the Hokage has the last say on that and I have always had their support. Obviously that isn't always the case, from what I know most villages that have a Jinchuuriki prefer to use their Jinchuuriki as weapons to dissuade others from fighting them. Of course it also seems that regardless of what the village leadership wants the rest of the village always seems to treat them the same way, like they are some sort of demon waiting to kill them all."

Naruto hummed as he continued, "I am not sure what it would have been like to have been treated as no more than a weapon by Jiji, but I do know I am glad I was given the chance to choose who I am instead of having my path forced on me. Though I do have to admit, it would have been nice to have received a bit more training before I graduated 'tebayo."

Neji shook his head as he said, "There is no way to know how much it would have changed things, but I do wonder how strong you might have become had you received proper training during your early years. Would you be more or less the same or would you be significantly more powerful. Regardless, I see no point in continuing to ponder something we can never know the answer to. I do have a question for you though, you never actually explained how you are able to access the chakra inside your seal without having to expend chakra to unseal it."

Naruto nodded and said, "Ah that, well apparently the method to allow the access differs depending on the particular seal. However, in my case it is because my seal is technically a combination of two separate seals. There are two four symbol seals set up since the Kyuubi is too strong for most normal seals. The seals are set up in such a way that there is a tiny gap between their arrays and that gap is where my Chakra network is attached to the seal. The Kyuubi's Chakra is slowly siphoned out of the seal and into my system and if I want I can pull extra from this gap, though doing so too often apparently weakens the seal overall."

Naruto closed his eyes as he continued, "Ero-sennin says that he has a key that allows him to re-tighten my seal if needed so there isn't too much to worry about with that. Ultimately, since I plan to actively avoid using his chakra until I can gain more control over what happens when I use it, I am not overly worried about it anyways."

Neji looked concerned for his friend before Tenten blurted out, "Wait, wait, wait. The Yondaime made a key for your seal. I read towards the end of my study on sealing scrolls that if you made the seal strong enough and occasionally fed it chakra to rebuild any deterioration you could create a key seal that would give you a couple of benefits. First, it makes it so that anyone without the key would have to expend a whole lot more chakra to open your seal, the multiplier is based on the complexity of the lock and key parts of the seal. Second it allows the person who holds the key to open and then close the seal with very limited use of chakra."

Tenten hummed as she continued, "So, theoretically once you gain more control over Kyuubi's chakra you could open and close or simply loosen and tighten the seal as needed with little to no expended chakra."

Naruto looked surprised as he said, "I hadn't known that dattebayo, and I kind of assumed that the only reason for the key was to tighten the seal if it got too weak. I may have to talk with Ero-sennin about this a bit more but that just proves even more that I need to gain control over Kyuubi's chakra so that I could take advantage of this." _Plus if I can get the Kyuubi to stop trying to murder me I might be able to at least let him out of that sewer cage, even if he still can't leave my mindscape. Maybe without the seal there I might even finally be able to change that part of my mindscape into something a bit more appealing since every time I have tried to alter it I just end up with a massive headache. Anyways, that is something else to think about later._

Lee was the one to respond this time, "Wow, that is so youthful, to think that Yondaime-sama thought far enough ahead to create this key to give you both enough time to properly control Kyuubi's Chakra and to eventually allow you to access more of it than the seal would normally allow."

Neji nodded as he said, "Yes it does seem that he came up with quite a plan despite the fact that he probably only had a short time to decide on what to do. I am glad that he managed to come up with a way to keep the seal strong until you could safely control this power he entrusted to you."

Naruto looked thoughtful as he said, "That is an interesting way of looking at it Neji. Well do you guys have any other questions? If not, I have a request to ask, I talked with Team Ten about pulling a mega prank with all of the Konoha Eleven. Are you guys interested?"

The three members of Team Guy looked at one another before glancing back at Naruto when Tenten said, "That sounds like fun, we would be glad to participate in this prank of yours." As Naruto said his goodbyes he turned and hopped into the trees in search of Team Eight.

**-In Another Training Field-**

As Shino and Hinata arrived at the training grounds they saw Kiba talking with Akamaru about something. Kiba turned around to face his teammates before saying, "Okay, now that we are all here we can begin planning what we are going to do to the villagers for all they did to Naruto-baka."

At Kiba's feral grin and Akamaru's affirmative bark Shino sighed and said, "Kiba we should not do anything like this without Naruto's permission, why, because I am sure he wouldn't want us to do anything too bad to the villagers. Also if what we do is a prank he would likely wish to be involved given his proclivity for doing them as a child."

Hinata giggled slightly as she said, "Did you just agree to pull a prank Shino? That is so unlike you."

Shino shrugged as he replied, "I figure regardless of what I say, Kiba will want to do at least some sort of prank on the village so I should participate to help make sure he does not go too far, even if it might be justified."

Kiba looked over at Shino and said, "Wait, you agree with me that we should do something about this, I thought your logic would dictate that this sort of vengeance would be pointless."

Shino looked over at his friend and answered, "Well that may be true but similar to how you consider Konoha as a whole and your friends in particular as your 'pack' I consider them my 'colony.' In an insect colony everyone works for the betterment of the whole and so pointlessly ostracizing a member of the colony that has the potential to be as important as Naruto makes no logical sense. So while your vengeance is illogical, that does not necessarily make it unjustified."

Kiba looked intrigued as he replied, "You know I never really thought about the fact that your bonding with insects might lead you to a similar pack mentality. Well regardless I am glad we agree the villagers are morons for not realizing their error, even if Naruto is a baka himself. So, are you in for our prank Hinata?"

Hinata looked sheepish as she said, "W-well I am not very good with those types of things but I will try my best to help you guys out."

Kiba laughed as he said, "Aww come on Hinata, just admit that you want to get back at them for being so mean to your crush, we all know it's true."

As Hinata attempted to stutter out a defense Shino sighed and said, "Why must you be so inconsiderate Kiba, you know that Hinata doesn't like to be made fun of for her crush on Naruto, why because it embarrasses her."

Akamaru whined in embarrassment at Kiba's actions before Kiba shouted, "Aww come on, not you to Akamaru, I am just having a bit of fun."

Shino decided they needed a slight change of topic so he asked, "So, should we discuss what we learned during our talks with Naruto? He isn't the type of person to plan these things out and so I imagine he may have told us different things, so it might be beneficial to compare notes."

At this Akamaru yipped a couple of times and Kiba said, "Well Akamaru has an observation. When we talked with Naruto he had Akamaru scent his chakras and Akamaru really liked how Naruto's own Chakra smelled. He says that it was potent, in a good way, and he thought it was really pleasant and calming.

Shino nodded as he reported, "That is consistent with what my insects reported to me when they ate his pure chakra. They find it to be exceedingly delicious yet they can only eat a small amount of it before they grow full due to the sheer amount of energy in a small portion of the Chakra. It is almost like his chakra is a positive variant to the Kyuubi's own. Though I am not sure how much of that may be natural and how much may be adaptation to the Kyuubi over the years."

Hinata spoke up next and said, "W-well I looked up n-Naruto-kun's family name once and assuming it wasn't just given to him at random since he was an orphan, he is a member of a nearly extinct clan. The u-Uzumaki were known for many things in their day but the two that stood out the most were their status as masters of Fuinjutsu and their longevity, which was a result of their abnormal Chakra. It was s-so full of vitality that it could keep them in good condition for years longer than most if they survived long enough to take advantage of it. So that might be p-part of it."

Kiba huffed as he said, "Who knew the baka came from a clan, though that would help to explain his strange chakra."

Shino hummed as he added, "Correct that may also have been a factor in why he was chosen as the Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi given the Uzumaki's potent chakra. It is a shame that no one has taken the time to teach him Fuinjutsu though, why because from what little I know of it, despite its complexities it is quite useful. Regardless of whether or not he would have a natural affinity for it, he should have at least been given the chance since his clan was known for using it proficiently."

Kiba nodded as he said, "Yeah, even if I can't see Naruto staying still long enough to write out a seal I do think it would have been cool to have had someone who uses seals for more than just storage in our generation. It is a shame that no one from his clan is still around to teach him whatever clan Jutsu they would have likely had. Though I wonder if Naruto even knows he is a part of this Uzumaki clan."

Hinata was the one to speak up and say, "Naruto-kun doesn't have any idea of who his parents are as far as I know Kiba. He likely thinks that the name is just a generic name like many people. Honestly I had to dig quite a bit just to find the name in the archives because most of the information is stored in the Chuunin or higher section of the building. Though that is largely because most of the scrolls contain Fuinjutsu formulas. The only information about them as a clan I could find was in the Genin section in a list of clans in other countries. I actually happened across it while I was looking up the clan of an opponent we had on a mission."

Shino nodded and added, "That makes sense, and outside of a very generic blurb about their history you won't find any clan information outside of the Jonin and Anbu sections of the Archives. Why, because clan information is considered highly classified for both our village and foreign clans. Not only do we not want anyone else to learn too much about our clans both living and extinct, but we also don't want them to know how much we know about theirs. Anyways, I wish to ask something. When we were talking Naruto mentioned that a Jinchuuriki can be controlled by their Bijuu if they become emotionally unstable while using its chakra. I wonder if he was speaking from personal experience or about something he was told, why, because I am worried that he would be unable to forgive himself if he ever did anything while under this influence."

Kiba perked up at this, "Really he didn't tell you about that Shino, what about you Hinata?"

Hinata shook her head in the negative before he continued, "Oh, I guess I can share what he told me. He talked about the levels, I suppose, of his power and how they affected him. He has the initial state where he pulls on just a little power such as when his life is in danger or when he is running low on Chakra. When in this state he grows longer claws and fangs along with gaining red slitted eyes and more pronounced whisker marks most of the time, and as far as control goes it makes him slightly more susceptible to anger."

Kiba continued, "Then he has what he called a Chakra cloak where there is so much Kyuubi Chakra that he grows a literal cloak of the stuff around his body. This makes him even more prone to anger than before and apparently since the Chakra is in a higher concentration than usual, after a while it starts to deaden his limbs preventing him from using them properly."

Kiba grimaced as he added, "There is also a third stage. When he develops the cloak you can tell how much power he is using by the number of tails it sprouts apparently. By the fourth tail the Chakra becomes so corrosive that it apparently burns off his skin and he bleeds constantly into the cloak making it dark reddish black and he generally loses consciousness fairly quickly and the chakra can then move on its own. It apparently acts like a wild savage animal and attacks anything around it."

Shino and Hinata were silent as they processed this information before Hinata asked, "W-when has Naruto-kun u-used these powers before?"

Kiba sighed as he said, "Well to be fair I don't remember all of the times he said but I remember he told me that he first used the chakra cloak during his fight with Sasuke after the second time he was nearly killed."

While Akamaru growled lowly Shino asked, "Wait, what? What do you mean the second time he was nearly killed?"

Kiba ground out, "Apparently after all the work we went through to get him back, when Naruto fought Sasuke at the Valley of the End, Sasuke tried to kill him so he could leave. Naruto mentioned that he had been stabbed through the lung by the Chidori and had his neck broken by the move he copied from Lee."

After this the mood in the clearing visibly darkened, Hinata looked nearly on the verge of tears and Akamaru and Kiba were growling while Shino seemed to be buzzing angrily before he sighed out, "Honestly I know I shouldn't be surprised that Naruto wouldn't care about that, but I can't figure out why he still thinks of Sasuke as a friend. But then again I still can't quite figure out how he can still love this village despite all the emotional trauma they have put him through. I suppose I should ask, do you remember when Naruto used the other forms?"

Kiba sighed as he said, "Well the four tails thing apparently happened during the training trip while Jiraiya was teaching him how to use the Kyuubi Chakra and again during their last mission when they encountered Orochimaru. At the moment he is refusing to use its power at all because he lost control during that event and accidently hurt Sakura."

At Akamaru's bark Kiba added, "Oh and apparently he used the initial state during his match with Neji. That was how he reopened his Tenketsu, he pumped so much Chakra into his system that it opened them back up."

Hinata visibly winced at this imagining how much that hurt before she said, "H-having your Tenketsu opened without the aid of a medic or Hyuuga is not only painful but d-dangerous."

Kiba grinned and Shino shook his head as Hinata suddenly 'eeped' upon hearing a voice behind her say, "You don't need to be so worried about me Hinata, in the end everything worked out so it isn't worth worrying about."

As she turned around she noticed Naruto standing a short ways away grinning madly. Through sheer force of will she managed to avoid fainting before she asked, "N-Naruto-kun, what are you d-doing here?"

Naruto laughed before he walked over and stood so that he could face all three of them before responding, "Well I wanted to see if you guys had any questions to ask me about what I had talked with you guys about, to see if there was anything I needed to cover a bit more now that you guys have had some time to process it."

Hinata was surprisingly the first to respond as she said, "W-well I was interested in knowing more about this group Akatsuki who you mentioned were after the Jinchuuriki and I was wondering if you c-could expand on that a bit."

At the questioning look from Kiba and the tilted head from Shino Naruto laughed awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head before saying, "Well I apparently forgot to mention that to the two of you, sorry about that. Anyways, the Akatsuki is a group of S-rank missing-nin who are currently out to capture all of the Jinchuuriki and extract the tailed beasts from inside them. The trauma from the extraction results in the death of the host as well. The only captured host we know about for sure is Gaara, though while we were fighting the two that captured him they claimed to have captured at least one other so far."

Hinata gasped at this information before saying, "B-but why are they after the Jinchuuriki?"

Naruto sighed as he said, "Honestly we have no idea yet. Ero-Sennin hasn't been able to figure much out about them yet since they are so secretive. We assume they either plan to use them to make their own Jinchuuriki or they may have come up with another way to use them as some sort of a weapon. However, unless they slip up or tell us, we may never find out dattebayo."

Kiba shook his head and said, "Well that is some sobering news to be sure. We've got your back though, so no worries Naruto. So anyways, I was wondering about something you had mentioned when talking to me. You said that using the Kyuubi's Chakra caused a lot of damage to you, especially if you use a bunch of it. I was wondering if that affected you in a long term way at all or if it just amounts to temporary pain and discomfort?"

Naruto snorted as he said, "I wasn't overly worried anyways Kiba, I know you guys all have my back, but thanks. As to the damage thing, according to Baa-chan it partly depends on how much damage I am taking. With the four tails mode I am constantly loosing and regaining my skin which will slowly leech years off how long I live, other modes have less effect though instantly healing from any major injuries will contribute more to that as well. Though apparently one of the reasons children are chosen as Jinchuuriki is because it increases the chance of us adapting to the chakra and reducing its damaging effects."

Shino spoke up next, "That brings up what I wished to know. During our conversation you mentioned something similar about gaining resonance with the Bijuu Chakra, what does that mean exactly?"

Naruto hummed before continuing, "Well that one is a bit harder to explain. Basically it means my Chakra has grown used to Kyuubi's Chakra. I don't constantly take damage from it unless it is the main chakra in my system. If given the right amount of time I can also filter some of it to help replenish my reserves faster without the negative effects of using it straight from the source. According to Ero-sennin, it is actually pretty rare for someone to develop this resonance even if they were a child at the time of sealing, so the fact that I have done so is good. Another benefit is that it means I don't have to deal with our Chakras randomly becoming unbalanced in my system and causing me to spontaneously lose control of it 'tebayo. Oh and if I ever gain control over it I would actually be able to use it more efficiently than someone without that resonance."

Shino nodded and said, "So basically it lessens the amount of damage you take from Kyuubi's Chakra, prevents you from randomly losing control, and gives you benefits when using it in combat. Jiraiya-sama is correct in his assessment that this is a good thing, why, because the first two benefits alone help to keep you safe and sane as well as keeping those around you safe."

Kiba grinned as he said, "Plus that third part sounds pretty useful if you can gain control of Kyuubi's Chakra and find a way to use it without risking your own safety."

Akamaru yipped in affirmative before barking again to remind Kiba about their prank idea, "Oh, I don't know if the others have any more questions but I wanted to ask you if you were interested in helping us pull a vengeance prank on the village."

Naruto blinked a few times before he burst out laughing and after a few moments managed to reign it in enough to say, "While I don't want it to be about revenge for anything they did to me, I had already been planning something similar. Team Ten came up with the idea of doing a group prank and I got Team Guy to agree so since you guys were already planning one I assume you would be in. I am not sure what we are doing yet but I am going to try and make it the prank to end all pranks dattebayo."

Shino shook his head and said, "It is not too surprising that you had something similar planned since I assumed at least one member of each of our groups would have come up with something similar to Kiba in their desire to take vengeance for you. I think doing it with you in the lead would be a logical idea so I agree to this on behalf of our team. I am also done with my questions for now so unless Hinata has another, we seem to have answered anything we can think of at this time."

Hinata shook her head and said, "N-no I am out of questions as well."

After they all said their goodbyes Naruto started walking back to his apartment. Once he arrived he fixed himself a quick lunch and thought about what else he was going to do today. He decided to go and see if he could get Sakura and Sai to join in on the prank since he hadn't spent any time with his team over the last couple of days. With that he headed off to see if he could find them anywhere around town.

**There we go, another chapter down. I came up with the idea to hold a group wide prank sometime over the last few days so this ending may take a bit longer than many expected. I have one or two more things to wrap up and a mega prank to do so that should be fun. Sorry this took so long to get out, I was way busier than I expected the last couple of weeks and so I didn't get much time to write. I made this chapter a bit longer than usual at 8346 words to make up for that. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long since I already have most of it written by the time I am posting this chapter (This is largely due to the fact that I had a large amount of free time today and no access to the internet to distract me from writing by doing other things). Anywho, please review, and while you are there you should make a suggestion for what the prank should entail if you have any ideas, I want it to be Naruto's Magnum Opus (Greatest work) so to speak and unless I suddenly change my mind, that is about the only part of the next chapter I haven't finished yet.**


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